Mass Effect Survival Part 3
by Sol-Vikar
Summary: An all original cast of characters living in the Mass Effect Universe just prior to the Reaper invasion come from different walks of life. Some are haunted by their personal demons, others are oblivious to them. Circumstance places a female Turian Cabalist and a Human Engineer in each others paths.
1. Chapter 1 Seeing Red

_"Off to bootcamp! I figured since I'm an adult now I should update my journal keeping since I now have an Omni. I'm so nervous. Jorvan assures me it's not that bad. I find that hard to believe based on what happened to Sol..._

 _No one's heard from him since the incident. I got a short message after he disappeared from Blackwatch academy saying he was ok and that he would strike out on his own. After that, nothing. I feel a tremendous hole in my heart since he deserted. Mother and father refuse to even acknowledge his existence. They even took down all the family pictures with him in it._

 _As if he never existed! Would they do that to me? What if I can't handle the training?"_

 **Dhals Folly, Digeris, 17:50 Digerian Local Time April 19th 2186**

There was a point that everything had blacked out; The senselessness of what she was witnessing making her vision fade. What followed was a sense of motion accompanied by urgent whispers. Alarees was only subliminally aware of any of it for the sickly gurgle coming from the human and a masked troopers leg rising and falling swiftly seemed to override all other thought.

Something soft pressed against her back and she could smell the sharp tang of antiseptics. More motion. This time an orange glow as something was passed over her. Alarees stared with unseeing eyes at the flourescent lighting of the hospital ceiling as she was carted to urgent care. A face peering into her eyes, turian, male. A medic, eyes confused and searching over a bone white sneeze guard as they shined a light into Ree's.

"Hang on, toxicology report is coming. Yea, its the same for her as Cabalite Vikar. Respiratory system is functional, if only barely. I just don't get it doctor, there's nothing like this in our files." Came a muffled voice as the medic stood and looked over Ree.

"At least the other is responding to stimuli, this one seems catatonic. Did the troopers who dropped them off say anything about the circumstances of their discovery?" A new white masked face appeared in Ree's field of vision, this one inspecting an injector and shaking his head.

"No, they left as soon as we had them in a gurney. The Base Commander is being notified. If we knew the source of this paralysis or had a sample we could find a way to counteract it." The medic replied as he sanitized a injection site.

Ree could feel the alcohol soaked gauze on an unplated portion of her inner arm. The cool sensation was replaced by pressure and then a sting as the injector bit. She didn't so much as blink.

"Anti inflammatories administered. At this point I just don't know what else we can do." The Doctor said with a nervous lilt to his subvocals.

A chime sounded and then a voice over the hospital's PA system. It was distorted and muffled, but the Medic looked up at the Doctor as they stood in Ree's field of view. "Related?"

"No way of knowing."

Ree's rigid features remained unchanged, her usually vivid electric blue eyes were dull but watery.

Sighra Bau walked urgently across the courtyard from his research building towards the direction the the troopers had come from with a medkit slung over a shoulder and a Predator pistol in hand. He had no idea what to expect, so he mentally prepared for one of two scenarios he came up with;

Either the human had planned ahead and had blocked his Omni from remote tracking, which would solidify his suspicions that he was a Cerberus sleeper agent.

Or something had happened to him and he was now either dead or in a state resembling it.

The exponentially divergent factors what could have lead to either possible outcome was immaterial at the moment. What was important was establishing which of the two predicted outcomes was legitimate and act, fast. Sighra gripped his pistol a little tighter as he neared the trailers. His wide salarian eyes searched the area out for movement almost frantically. Lights burned in most of the other trailers given the early evening hour, but one trailer in particular was dark. Its door was ajar and a faint plume of smoke was curling from the doorway.

Bau hastened his pace and brought the gun up to eye level as he closed with the trailer. When he rounded on the doorway he froze mid step. The pastel colored walls were smeared with something that looked black under the orange glow of the table lamps. He peered over the parapet wall that separated the small bed/couch and could see noone lurking, so he pressed into the small residence, swatting at the main lighting switch.

It was then that he spotted the source of the smoke, an incense holder had been knocked over near the dresser and had sprayed ash on the carpet, leaving it to smolder and crackle as acrid wisps of smoke curled up into the ceiling. Bau blinked as his eyes adjusted to the brighter fluorescent lights when they flickered on and realized the spatter and smears on the walls weren't black, they were red. Bau got sidetracked briefly as he analyzed the spatter, his pistol dipping as he took in the angles and locations of the red dots.

 _Back spray, from a tool, object, blunt. Overhead swing.._ He traced the fan of red up until he was staring at the ceiling and following the line of dots painted on it. _Origin by dining room table, oh my._

Bau's already large orange eyes widened as they fell on the still form heaped in the center of the dining room.

"Its blood. It's all blood." He breathed as the scene before him registered.

The pistol bounced to the floor as Bau rushed forward, unslinging his medkit as he did so. Max appeared to be laying on his side, an arm folded over his head as he had tried to protect himself. Bone jutted out from the arm as whatever he had been attacked with had smashed it. His uniform was dark from head to toe from blood soaking into it. A leg was folded in the wrong direction, broken in several spots.

Bau hovered over the still form, unsure of where to start for a second. The coppery tang of blood was thick in the air and mingled with the stink of the burning carpet, making the salarian nauseous.

 _Heart, start his heart first._

The thought spurred him into action, he gently rolled the large human on his back. The wet pop of his smashed hip joint echoed in the otherwise silent room. He cut open the humans blouse, exposing a multitude of deep lacerations, and placed a defib pad on his bloodied chest. It had a hard time adhering to the slick surface, but Bau managed it.

The body jerked as current pulsed through it. Bau glanced up at the human's face and regretted it. It was unrecognizable, spots appeared sunken where cheekbones had been smashed and teeth peeked through his lower lip as the skin had been beaten through it by the heel of a boot. Black and red orbs filled the spot where emerald green eyes had once burned so brightly.

The body jerked again as the defib pad passed another current. Bau pulled out a medigel injector and placed in against his neck, hoping to curtail swelling of the brain as well as provide some temporary relief as the medigel slipped into the bloodstream and exchanged carbon for oxygen. He could save him, if he could get his heart started.

Another jolt, to no effect. Bau began administering medigel elsewhere and tourniquetting limbs to staunch the flow of blood that pulsed with each jolt. His hands grew slick, making him fumble and panic as he worked.

He took a moment to call for help, leaving the channel open as he worked.

"Send help to Gunnery Chief Barretts trailer at once, require shock trauma kit. Human Levo blood and oxygenator should be primed and ready to go. I've got no pulse." He said as soon as the clerk at the Hospital front desk answered.

"..What?!" came a confused voice.

Bau paused and took a calming breath, fighting the upwelling of panic in his chest.

"Send. Aid. To. My. Location. Shock trauma kit. NOW!" He said urgently and went back to work.

Max let out a rasping breath as his body jolted again. Bau looked down at his omni and felt a small measure of relief wash over him as the human's heart beat irregularly. It wasn't the best, but it was a start.

Prefect Ferkan groggily swatted at his Omni as it sat on his nightstand charging dock and beeped angrily at him. The veteran commanders onyx plating glinted dully under the weak floodlamp light that formed a halo around the drawn curtains of his bedroom. He lifted his head from his pillow and blinked at the message flashing on the projected display. He fought to focus on it and motioned for the lights to come on.

A red band scrolled by, followed up with large capital turian script.

ALERT, CATEGORY 1 MEDICAL EMERGENCY REPORTED, TWO HOSPITALIZED.

Ferkan sat up quickly and snatched up the Omni. His mind raced as he called the front desk and got a busy signal.

 _Students? The human was having them stay in pairs at all times for his odd little experiment._

He hurriedly catapulted from bed and threw on a robe and some sweat pants, not even bothering to slide his spurs through the holes in the calf as he ran barefoot from his house to the Hospital. The Omni continued to chirp as busy as he trotted towards the large structure. The brisk Digerian air bit into his exposed face and neck, making his eyes water.

By now the message would have spread to the rest of his command staff. Already he could see lights flick on as daytime medical staff were roused to respond as well. Ferkan blundered into the lobby and shuffled to the reception desk, tugging at his bathrobe to keep it shut as a harried looking receptionist stood and gave a hasty salute. He told whoever was on the line to hold as he reported to the Prefect.

"Sir, patients are stabilized, the cause for their injury isn't readily apparent however." He said apologetically as a small voice yelled angrily from his communicator.

Ferkan eyed the device. "Who's that, and who are the patients."

The receptionist looked deeply embarrassed for a moment, chiding himself internally for not getting that information out first. "Uh, Cabalites Vikar and Jorst. And I think it's Sighra Bau on the line, he's talking too fast for me. But we may have a third patient, I'm sending a med team to his location."

Ferkan frowned and glanced over the reception desk to the lifts. "Very well, carry on. Report directly to me if something changes with Bau." He said tersely as he pushed by the desk and made his way to urgent care.

His mind was still processing all that was going on, the last vestiges of sleep making his thoughts murky and jumbled. He found himself ignoring staffers as they stopped and saluted along the hallways and was briefly annoyed with himself for forgetting formalities. He glanced down at his rather unfashionable ensemble.

 _As well as some decency._ He thought as he came to a halt at the ward housing two of his troopers. He steeled himself, unsure of what he would find, and pushed in. Ferkan eyed a Nurse who was on the verge of protesting, but froze as he recognized who it was.

"Uh Sir. This isn't the best time…" He said cautiously. Ferkan shook his head and glanced down at the two Cabalites as they lay beside each other in hospital beds. "Are they or are they not stable?" He demanded in an icy tone as his gaze went back to the nurse.

"Y-Yes Sir, though we are still trying to rule out contagion." He tried but was met with a cool stare. "I'll just see myself out." The nurse added and cautiously slipped by the Prefect as he slowly approached the two females.

Jorst seemed to be staring right at him, her facial plates streaked with tears while Vikar stared at the ceiling. Their expressions were somewhere between fear and anger. Ferkan pulled up a stool between the two hospital beds and sat heavily, sighing as he reached out and grasped a hand each. They felt cold and rigid, as if undergoing rigor mortis. But they were alive.

"I didn't pull your asses from that Cerberus death trap, only to see you both get taken out by some exotic sickness. We'll get Bau in here and we'll figure this out." He said in a low tone as he looked at each of them in turn. He spied their torn clothes and felt a disquiet come over him as many, many, questions came up. He stood and bent over each, pressing his fringe to theirs before regarding them both silently for a moment. "Come back to us, that's an order." He said with a hint of sadness to his subvocals.

He stepped out and was almost flattened by another gurney barreling down the hall. He only glimpsed the red… mass heaped onto it as it was rushed by. He looked up to see Bau rushing after it. "Dr. Bau, I need-"

Bau waved Ferkan off, his large eyes flitting over the Prefects disheveled appearance briefly. "Urgent surgery required for Gunnery Chief. Know of Cabalites, will be ok. Have Idea on origin of sickness. Please excuse." He fired off without breaking stride.

 _Gunnery Chief?_ Ferkan thought as he watched the flurry of movement disappear around a corner.

Ree saw the Prefects face, heard his words but couldn't quite understand them. She felt his presence grow close and caught his scent briefly before he was gone just as suddenly. She felt a buzzing sensation spread through her body as the IV dosed her. The closest sensation that was relatable to what she felt was akin to a limb falling asleep, only the numbness persisted after the tingle abated. Her vision grew darker and darker until she was unconscious, but couldn't be sure.

 _"Ree, we know this is hard, but you have to go with your uncle. We'll be back, we promise."_ A brown plated hand rested on her shoulder. Ree tried to look at the source of the disembodied voice but could only see darkness.

 _"Mother?"_

Her voice sounded frail and reedy, even to her. She reached up with phantom limbs to touch the hand on her shoulder but only felt the throb of numbness with each effort.

 _"Kantose… We have to tell her. It's not fair to lead her on like this."_ Ree grew confused as her voice echoed in her mind. She tried to conjure the male turians face from the lucid dream she was trapped in, but only felt the blackness press into her eyes. They watered and tingled in the face of nothingness.

 _"Denae, this isn't mere chance. We have an opportunity to start anew again, to pledge our love for one another."_ Jaa's sickly sweet voice echoed in her mind.

" _But what of Max? I.."_

 _"-Don't you dare say it"_ Jaa interrupted. This time her amber eyes burned brightly in the dark, predatory in their glint. " _He did this, search your feelings. Humans are a disease. Look at what they have taken from me, from YOU. From us!"_ Ree felt a sigh through the darkness, the waters around her calmed and she found that she could breath. _"What did my brother find? Hmm? Stop hiding from the truth."_

Ree wept from eyes that were not her own. She recoiled from the little girl cowering at her feet. She felt her stare and looked back up to see Max with glowing ember eyes. He turned and walked away into the darkness. Ree raised an arm, as if to reach out to stop him but found a pistol in her hand. It clicked empty as her Uncle laughed, bodiless and omnipresent.

 _"You are stronger than this. That is the Jorst pillar." Her uncle lectured._

Ree could feel her hand being squeezed through the darkness and squeezed back, Jaa's scent was comforting, familiar, safe.

"But Dr. Bau, we've never done a graft of this scale before, his body could reject all of it." The surgical mask flexed as the Surgeons mandibles twitched with unease. Bau nodded as he finished donning surgical gloves and joined the other Doctor at the surgical table.

"Concerns warranted. Procedure unprecedented until recently. Omni gel infusion will serve to integrate grafts with nerves. Medigel will reduce swelling and control immune response. Will need some cybernetic control modules to be installed as well to keep things in check. Suggest we start with cranium and work our way down." Bau rattled off as he fussed with the order of the surgical tools laid out beside him.

The turian doctor eyed the salarian, concern etching his masked gaze. "Dr. Bau, I advise we take a less invasive approach, what you are proposing will drastically alter his physiology to a degree we can't even comprehend." He persisted.

"Not enough time. Any further delay nets a high probability that neurological damage will become irreparable. Recovery could take years." Bau paused and took a warmer tone as he rested a gloved hand on the turian doctor's shoulder. The sterilized plastic garb crinkled as he squeezed in an effort to reassure the Surgeon. "I have weighed the risks. And like I have said; technique has been used to great success once before. We have the advantage of the patient not being totally deceased and damaged by vacuum over an extended period."

The turian doctor shook his head fractionally but relented. "Okay Dr. Bau. Let's get started then."

Bau gave one final squeeze before turning to the jumble of human and tubes laid out before him. He wondered briefly if "human" would be a valid term after the last suture had been tied.

Ferkan stood at a long viewing window, eyes searching out every little white garbed movement for meaning as he tried to make sense of what was happening and what had happened. He turned as the sounds of footsteps approached and nodded at a timid and equally tousled looking group of staffers as they approached.

They stared in silence at one another for a moment as the young officers waited for guidance from the senior commander. Ferkan turned back to the view of bright surgical lamps and suited figures, the long intake of a sigh making his shoulders raise as he shook his head.

"I want a full report on my desk by 0800 tomorrow. I want all surveillance cameras scrutinized. I want answers for this." He said as his gaze remained fixed on the measured motions occurring mere feet away from him. There was a small chorus of "Aye Ayes" before the sound of footsteps receded. He stayed for a bit longer, eventually snorting in disgust as he turned on heel and went back to his domicile.

Sleep came and went in a vicious cycle as each tentative dip into the dream world netted new and disturbing possibilities. His last memory before "waking" for the final time was the image of a crazed human attacking a guard as he and other captured crewmen were being moved from the damaged human frigate to the Hierarchy one. His eyes had burned with a green vengeance as he struck, grabbing a shard of broken glass and driving into the throat of the Trooper. Ferkan had managed to subdue the human, and the trooper had survived, but there was just something about the human that seemed familiar now. A subconscious connection was made as memories of Shanxi entered the fray of dreams.

Ferkan rose from his bed feeling as though he had had only just lay to rest. The halo of light around his drawn curtains refuted the notion. He sat on the edge of his bed for a long while, his disquiet persisting. His expression was both dour and sad as he finally stood and freshened up. He dressed with deft ease as his mind wandered elsewhere. The war veteran started to grow annoyed at his state of mind and took it out on his cooking unit as its door mechanism stuck and wouldn't close all the way.

"Fucking-" he snarled as he opened and slammed the device shut. Its contents, a bowl of dextro oat analog and water, sloshed from the violent action and spilled some of its contents on the revolving pedestal. The door shut and Ferkan stood glaring at the bowl as it revolved insolently inside the unit.

He choked down the piping hot contents a few minutes later, not bothering to dress it up with his customary mixture of syrup and chopped fruit. When he finally entered the Headquarters building he was greeted by a tense atmosphere as underlings were careful to avoid eye contact. Sighra Bau stood by his office door, datapad in hand. He was still clad in surgical scrubs, though his gloves were gone now.

"Operative Bau, what do you have for me." He said with strained subvocals as he eyed the dark crimson stains on the doctor's garbs and motioned the salarian ahead of him.

Never one to forget formalities Bau opened the door and let the turian commander in before sliding into the office himself and closing the faux wood door behind himself. He waited for the onyx plated male to settle into his high backed chair before approaching the desk and speaking. His large eyes flitted over the large display of small arms behind the Commander before fixing on Ferkan.

"Prefect, of immediate import are the conditions of the three inducted into the infirmary last night. The Cabalites are stable and are showing signs of recovery after I administered an antidote. Gunnery Chief Barrett is in grave condition but is stable, I am due for another session of surgery to close him up after this Sir." Bau said with his usual clipped staccato.

Ferkan accepted the proffered datapad and offered the salarian a seat, which was politely declined.

"I'm afraid I'm pressed for time. -Also..." He motioned to the stains on his clothes almost demurely.

"Very well... Did you sleep at all last night?" Ferkan said with a concerned lilt. "And what of this antidote? I take it you found the cause of their incapacitation?"

Bau took a deep breath, he knew this would be tough going in, but he still felt ill prepared.

"I am fine sir, Salarian circadian rhythm much shorter than other species. -Any way." He said and swallowed. "-Source of illness tied to a Collector paralyzing agent. An agent contained in my labs. Was researching possible use as a crowd control agent. -Origens not important.-" At this a single browplate arched inquisitively but Ferkan refrained from interrupting.

"-What is a cause for concern is the fact is that my lab was accessed without my consent. Security was bypassed, camera footage was deleted. However." He pointed to the datapad Ferkan now cradled in his lap, ignored as he absorbed every word the salarian spoke. He now glanced down at it as Bau pressed on.

"Forensic data recovered on my terminal, DNA from epithelial -skin cells." He resumed by way of explanation. "Profile and report contained on datapad.'

"Do you have a match?" Ferkan asked as he turned on the pad and accessed the file.

"Y-yes Sir, Gunnery Chief Barrett."

Ferkan stopped and looked up, his expression hardening. He waited for more and felt something freeze deep in his gut.

Bau swallowed again and dived into it, going on to explain his suspicions about Max's history and the link to Cerberus he had found. The suspicious timing of the CSEC officer's death and the DNA evidence found there as well. When he finished he waited for a reaction. But the turian Commander sat in silence, his piercing gaze never wavering.

"I want a Tribunal. I want all evidence. We will do our due diligence, and we will get to the bottom of this." He said finally and read through the report, breezing through it as his mind became even more muddled.

Bau nodded and fidgeted with his hands.

"Yes Sir. As you may or may not know, the nature of the Joint Species Coalition framework does place you as the convening authority. Complete authority. To include capital punishments. The current state of the agreement places all personnel under the current Commanders home law. In this case, Chief Barrett would fall under Hierarchy military courts martial."

Ferkan sighed.

"I know Operative Bau. Despite that fact there will be a lot of outside scrutiny. This will be the first test of that aspect of this Joint agreement. Let's be thorough and fair."

"Understood sir. If you don't have anything else for me?..." Bau trailed.

Ferkan nodded and motioned to the door. "See yourself out."

When the door had closed completely Ferkan stewed in silence before suddenly slamming his fist on his desk, making the datapad rattle and bounce. A part of him was still in disbelief, it felt as though this was a nightmare happening outside of his realm; An intangible series of terrible circumstances that was just beyond his comprehension. Another part of him thirsted for blood. He entertained the notion of telling the hospital to just pull the human's life support, but he brushed the thought aside as being both impulsive and grossly unfitting someone of his position and stature. But still...

He stood slowly and brooded in front of the floor to ceiling window for a long moment, watching as troopers from various species migrated to and from various classrooms and simulators. There seemed to be a nervous edge to their movements. Word of the night's events would have undoubtedly made its rounds by now.

 _And what of the assailants?_ He thought with mixed emotions. Even if everything were true and the human was a Cerberus agent, they had bypassed the law, be it unwittingly or on purpose. He wondered what event would have caused such attentions. Jaa's torn clothes came to mind and Ferkans mind darkened. He had an idea as to what, and was instantly nauseated by the implications. He could recall only one such instance in the past. Interestingly enough it had also involved another species, Asari that time. She had made unwanted advances on a male trooper, to the point that he had been biotically assaulted.

They found her beaten to within an inch of her life the next day. The troopers who served with the one that had been assaulted strangely suffering from biotic attacks, yet somehow all having an alibi that placed them elsewhere. The investigation had stalled and was buried. Blood ran thick between Kin, and an outsider could easily be viewed as a threat to a units sanctity and spirit.

Ferkan tried to remind himself that he would soon have to act as an impartial Arbiter on the Tribunal. But this was Kin, a Cabalite who had served under him before and had almost died then, to Cerberus no less. He felt his talons bite into his palm as he clenched a fist behind his back. The feeling of warmth ran down his knuckles, he visibly shook with rage as the thought took hold, became more and more real with each repetition.

He stilled, a chill of resolution passing over him like an an icy breaker sweeping ashore.

"I want guards posted at the _humans_ med bay. I want to know the moment he is able to be awakened." Ferkan almost whispered into his Omni as he turned away from the window and resumed his seat.


	2. Chapter 2 I said Fire

_"-I've started to manifest. I don't know if i should tell anyone or keep it to myself. I know my father and mother will be upset by this. I'll be the first one in my family to have developed biotic powers. I don't want to leave my unit though. It feels like I'll be betraying them if I do._

 _Oh Spirits I don't want to end up like Sol..._

 _Where are you brother?!"_

Dhal's Folly Digeris, 21 April 2186

 **Medical Clinic general care ward**

The transition from paralysis to normalcy had been a study in motor control. Seemingly trivial movements had become laborious and clumsy. Ree growled in annoyance as her fingers couldn't quite apply the right amount of pressure to the cup resting on her bedside table in order to pick it up. The water inside the vessel sloshed and splashed over the rim as she clamped down and lifted it.

Jaa watched beside her, a concerned expression making her amber eyes wide and vulnerable. She wondered if maybe the neurotoxin would have lasting effects. Alarees was no use to her if she couldn't feel her extremities.

"It's ok Denae, take your time." She encouraged as she set her own cup down and shifted in the bed.

Ree managed to get hers to her lips with a series of jerky motions that saw the contents of the cup darken the white hospital bed sheets more than make it to her mouth. Her eyes watered with frustration and she gave a small whine as the cup made its haphazard way back to the table. It wasn't just the cup and the alarming lack of command of her motor functions that distressed the Cabalist. The whole reason _why_ she was in this predicament ate at her very existence. There was a sense of looming dread that she was roundly avoiding. As if not thinking about what had happened would make it go away.

Jaa watched the onyx plated cabalite withdraw without acknowledging her. Her mandibles pursed as she reached out over the table and rested a hand on the females forearm. By contrast, Jaa's reduced dosing was evident by her rapid recovery. Even at the height of the toxins effects she was still able to move fractionally. The numbness had subsided late in the evening the previous day, prompting the double amputee cabalite to don her prosthetics and take a few shaky steps around the ward.

She had leaned heavily on the handrail lining the hallway as she made a beeline for the surgical suite, intent on seeing what had become of the human.

 _Death would be a blessing. I'm not done with you, human._ The thought had given her a surge of energy, her steps grew measured and steady for a few paces before she faltered and almost fell. The Orderly had insisted she return to her room, to which she had glared at the white clad male but relented.

"Denae, look at me."

Ree started as she registered the words and looked down to see the green plated hand of Jaa resting on her forearm. A tear traced a line down her snout and off her chin, only to join the dark water stain on her sheets. She couldn't even feel her touch.

Jaa gave a small squeeze, which Ree _could_ feel, and smiled bravely when the blue tattooed female met her gaze.

"I love you."

Ree blinked the tears away and rubbed an eye with the back of a hand before smiling weakly. "I.. love you too." Ree's mind swam as she tried to recall the last time that had been said. She recalled with no small measure of shame that it was probably before the Cerberus raid that had taken Jaa's legs.

"We're going to be ok. Just let the Spirits do as they might and we will get through this _together."_ Jaa replied with a nod towards the door, towards _him._

"But.. _why?"_ Ree could feel another panicked wave of dread and sadness well up. She covered the females supportive hand with her own and held on. She wanted to scream, to cry, to strike, lash out. Anything to make the feeling go away. Sleep, she could sleep. But for how long? You couldn't stasis your way past problems. She knew she would have to confront what was all around her, but the stubborn side of her fought the notion. It just wasn't true, it couldn't be. Max had been so kind, so gentle, so understanding. He had opened up after their trying times on Earth. Their individual losses had made them close, she had _lay_ with the human.

But disquiet made her shake as little things kept adding up; his records, the killing on the Citadel, the evidence of his involvement, the rumor he had assaulted Jaa drunkenly. The last thought made Ree's mandibles twitch in agitation. She had wanted to ask about it, but didn't feel right about doing so. But now…

"Jaa?" Ree said tentatively as she looked up from their joined hands and met her gaze.

The green plated female tilted her head fractionally, a small encouraging pur coming from the back of her throat. She felt elation, she wanted to smile openly but suppressed it. It was perfect, just as she had envisioned. Ree was turning to her, relying on her much like the old days. When it was just the two of them against the galaxy. Better times, passionate times.

"Yes Love?" She replied when Ree hesitated. She gave another small squeeze for emphasis.

"Did… Was he… What happened in the Rec center?" Ree finally said with a small sob as she feared the answer. Already she could see the anger and fear in Jaa's delicate features. Her amber eyes began to water and she withdrew her hand from Rees as she turned into herself.

"Y-You can tell me." Ree persisted. She had to know now, she chased after her touch, going from the comforted to the comforter.

Jaa fought the laughter, disguising a chortle with a sob. She couldn't trust herself to speak so she looked away and dipped her chin sadly. Nodding fractionally and sighing a terrible sad sigh.

"I didn't think anything of him at first. I thought maybe it was just a human thing, -the stares, the grabbing. We had tried to be together much like what we had with Kantose, but.. He just made me feel so uncomfortable. There was just something about him that reminded me of.." Jaa wiped a well timed tear from the corner of her eye. This was almost too easy. "The raid, the -the type of people we encountered. -I just didn't feel like a being around him. And then he forced himself on me when he made me feel uncomfortable in the Rec center."

Jaa looked up and saw a tongue of outrage slowly eclipse the hurt in Rees vivid blue eyes.

 _Too easy_

 **Dhals Folly Barracks**

Dominguez sulked by his bunk, eyeing Ruhe and snorting in disgust as he passed by. He sauntered over to where the idiot child krogan and the smug pale turian were bunked. He was greeted with a fidgeting Vaul who was sitting on the edge of his bunk, datapads arrayed around him. The turian, Narn, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your butt buddy?"

Vaul started and looked up, craning his head so a massive fish eye faced him squarely. It reminded Juan of a bird. A rather large, ugly bird.

"That's your commander you're talking about, and what's that 'sposed to mean?" Vaul replied with an annoyed grunt. In the back of his mind a flash of dread flitted by.

 _It was just a stupid joke, he knows nothing._

Juan glossed over the odd facial twitches and shook his head.

"Whatever, look. Anyone know what the hell we're doing tomorrow? I haven't seen Barrett since our last class."

Vaul shifted his ponderously large frame in the bed so that he may fix both eyes on the small human now.

"You haven't heard? There was some sort of fight."

"Oh. ok…" Juan crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway to the small room. _That would explain all the ruckus last night._

"Well. Shit. What happened?" Juan added after a long pause.

Vaul heaved his massive shoulders. And fixed the human with a questioning look.

"Are you not concerned about your Battlemaster?"

Juan mimicked the gesture, frowning briefly.

"He's a tough cookie. Im sure its no big deal. He probably shot his mouth off at a bar or something. -Well I guess we're standing by until they figure it o-"

Juan shot the pale plating that shoved its way past him a dirty look as he hastily braced himself to keep from falling. "-Hey! What's your beef?"

Narn shifted the shoulder strap of his Thracia Threshers tank top before crossing his arms and giving an almost bored sidelong glance in reply. Vaul looked on with apprehension, the air becoming chilled instantly. There was something in the pale turians posture and breathing that spoke of a being about to unload on the next thing to piss it off. He gave the human a warning shake of the head as Narn continued to stare the human down.

"Fine, fuck me I guess. Jesus." Juan said with his hands lifted in surrender. He backed away and left, fuming himself now.

The pale turian stared after the human for a while before nodding and letting his hands slink down to his sides. Vaul looked on as the turian stood indecisively in the middle of the small room. He smelled different, there was a tang of decontaminate and something coppery. Vaul had detected the scent before, but couldn't quite place it.

"Hey. Did you want to go over study notes?" Vaul said to the turians back as he stood statue still.

He growled in annoyance as the turian refused to budge and nudged a spur with his foot from the edge of the bunk. "Hey!"

Narns arms spread to steady himself as his knee folded and whirled on the krogan with menace in his eyes. Vaul bristled at the sudden display of dominance and began to stand, but not before the gold tattooed turian shoved him back into the bunk, which was impressive given his size, and straddled him. Vaul bucked with a snarl, slamming the male into the bunk above before grabbing the turian by the waist with both hands and tossing him aside. The ruckus caused a few curious souls to peek their heads out of their rooms in bewilderment as Vaul growled into the face of the deadpan turian.

Vaul had him pinned against the wall in the bunk bed, cornered. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He snarled as he backed away, leery of a strike from an arm or leg.

Narn's steel blue eyes danced all over Vauls mottled face. Conflicting emotions welled up inside him. He recalled feeling a sense of dread that took hold the moment he and the other turians were carrying the two cabalites to the infirmary. Something in Cabalite Jaa'Quan's face. Joy, absolute joy.

Perhaps it was because her tormentor had been dealt with and her avenger was now carryting her to safety. Perhaps it was the relief of being rescued from an apparent second attack by the same tormentor. But something in her eyes was _off._ It was all immaterial the deed was done. The human had been made to pay for his sickness. The sound of ribs breaking under the heel of his boot had been satisfying, a long standing reminder to never defile Kin.

Vaul gave the pale turian a shake, bringing him back to the present. The Thracian born soldier blinked in confusion then refocused on Vauls intense glare.

"My apologies krogan." Narn said as he visibly reinserted himself into the tilted his head fractionally, confused by the distance created by the sudden formality -among others things.

"What is it?" he couldn't help but probe but was rebuffed by a small head shake.

"Perhaps when I figure it out I can convey it in such a -actually… Your kind tends to covet breedable females yes?"

The krogans head tilted more, his arms dropping as his guard slowly melted away.

"I don't see how-"

"-Your… curiosity aside, you would be seen as being negligent if one of your female's were to be compromised and you took no action to intervene, yes?" Narn interrupted as he pulled on the thread.

Vaul backed off further, the bunk creaked as he stood and looked around the small room as if searching for a response. A curious asari face briefly ghosted by their doorway in a not so subtle attempt to peek at what was going on. Vaul turned and flippantly slammed the door shut to their small dorm before turning back to Narn.

"I suppose so. They are all kept in their own compound however. And trust me, a krogan female can handle their own." He said with a weak smile. "What does this have to do with you acting like a maniac just now?"

Narn righted himself and sat cross legged on the bunk, noting the scattered datapads that were now blinking in warning after having been trampled from the brief scuffle.

"I've had to do my duty and see to it one of my Kin was seen to safety while their antagonist was… subdued." Came a steely reply. "So I'm a bit.. Tense."

Vaul picked at a plated forearm, unsure of what to say or how to respond. This was so unexpected and uncharacteristic of the usually arrogant and confident turian.

"Ok… Is everything handled then?" He posited with another shrug. There was an unease that grew from a tiny ember in his mind. It felt like there was a lurking threat just out of view, the premonitory feeling made the krogan fidget more. Narn scooted to the edge of the bed and reached out for the krogans hand.

Vaul looked around nervously ensuring that the door had in fact closed at the entrance to their little cubicle before accepting the turians hand and sidling up to him. Narn lowered their intertwined hands onto the krogans thigh and regarded them silently for a moment as he sensed the brutes heart rate increase.

"Vaul. There are things we must do as turians which are owed by blood but may feel dishonorable to an outsider. I just want you to know that if and when I am put before an Arbiter, I did such things out of a sense of duty to my fellow Kin and our spirit." He almost whispered as he squeezed the krogans hand and met Vauls sidelong stare.

 **Medical ward, Surgical suite 2**

An armored figure stood motionless on the crest of a small rocky outcrop, his silhouette was framed by the twinkle of lights from the city below. The deep black of a starless sky overhead felt like it would rush downwards at any moment, as if poised to snuff out the signs of life that had carved an existence on the surface of the airless moon.

The figure stirred to the tune of almost silent servos as they whirred to match the suit occupants movements. Arms extended as if to dive into the city below, a movement programmed into the Exoskeleton to be recognized as authorization to prime and unfold the four armatures mounted to the shoulder blades and spine of the suit.

Wings of death spread and locked into place as four smooth barrels pointed towards the sky, keeping the darkness at figured kneeled, bracing himself like a sprinter readying for a competition. His armored fists balled as they rested against the dirt and anchoring spikes shot out from the forearms into the rocky soil.

The barrels now hummed and vibrated as they prepared the first salvo of rocket artillery. The stacked rockets inside the barrels armed their Eezo boosted warheads. A helmeted head craned up to look through the Exo's domed outer armor at the city below. Bright green eyes looked on emotionlessly as targeting information splashed across the dome, matching up with the HUD projected inside the helmet. Wherever he looked, the suit sensors would paint targeting information on his surroundings. Range, trajectory, ammo count, selectable firing patterns, types of fusing available. All done automatically and efficiently. It was no longer **If** a look could kill, it was **When** a look would kill. The Exo-Heavy Armor could even be programmed to fire based on blinking patterns if the operator so chose to do so.

He could hear his breath, an almost mechanical wheeze that came and went with absolute precision. But the pulse. He couldn't feel his pulse like he could when fully sealed in his suit and outer Exo armor.

 _What is this place? Why am I here?_

" _Fire"_

The voice spooked him, the suited figure lurched but was still anchored down by his arms. The swath of lights in the valley below appeared to sway in unison as if they were at the mercy of some unseen current.

 _Why? Who are these people and why do I need to destroy them?_

" _I said Fire!"_

 _No._

The voice had no emotion, no inflection. It spoke in letters that formed words that had purely heartless meaning. It had no origin but felt like it came from somewhere just behind his right ear. He turned his head but was halted.

"We're good on C3, checking nerve routing through C4 now." This voice was different, it had inflection, it was clipped and efficient. Salarian?

 _What?_

There was something happening above him, in the blackness. He could sense it, feel it tug at something in his neck.

" _Fire now or die."_ The void called out.

 _I don't understand!_ He pleaded. _Who am I? Why am I here!?_

"Ok, I see it. Dr. Bau, check synapse relay 13F, there was a bone chip pressing against the circuit interface."

 _Bau? Bones?_

"Yes yes I see…. Fixed. Watch the voltage now. We'll fry his spinal column if it isn't watched on startup. Okay, cerebellum interface looks good. Let's start the heart again."

The blackness above roiled as he tried to pull his anchors from the soil once again.

" _Fire NOW"_

An animal terror took over just then, the barrels on his back whirred and whined as they moved to stay in a position to fire on the town below while he drew his feet more securely beneath him and pulled with all his strength. The whine from his armors servos reached a piercing screech as they fought to obey their masters intent but failed.

Lightning split the sky wide open, its boom cavitating in his very existence as the city lights began to burn red. They were moving now, towards him, a vast carpet of angry points of light. He stilled just long enough to notice. The scene grew out of focus as he was dazed by the agony in his chest The sky split again, this time his roar of agony eclipsing the crash of thunder as it emanated from his chest.

"Irregular heartbeat, again."

His eyes screwed shut as he pressed the firing nub embedded in the palm of his armor just as the carpet began creeping up the rocky outcrop. The suited figure was buffeted about as as all four barrels loosed their deadly payload in one grand salvo. Forty eight pulses of light erupted from the barrels in rapid succession, arcing into the roiling black mass and pausing briefly before falling back to surface in neat cloverleaf patterns. The warheads detonated just above head height, peppering the landscape all around him with molten steel and fire.

"What was that? Dr. Bau, these readings… I've never seen this type of tech before let alone these numbers."

"Yes, organically formed circuits. Reverse engineered from specimens taken from the geth attack on the Citadel. Has shown promise in its ability to grow and repair itself given the right neural chemical inputs. Focus now, we have a pulse again, begin suturing the neck while I tie in the phalange control nodes"

He felt himself being pulled from the suit, utterly hapless as he looked down to see the remnants of the carpet of lights close in on the hulk still kneeling as if ready to fire again. A look up revealed a fissure of light that beckoned him on. He couldn't recall who he was, much less resist.

 **Dhals Folly Mech Bay**

Harrison Reeve stood at the threshold of the mechbay, regarding the alloy door blankly as the setting sun cast his shadow against it. The sound of crunching footsteps made him turn and sweep his unruly blond hair away from his pale blue eyes. He tugged on the sleeve of his soiled mechanics jumpsuit out of habit, concealing the scars on his forearms from public view. He stank, having not bathed since news reached him that his one true love had been hospitalized.

He squinted into the golden rays of the setting sun at the figure approaching cautiously. He blinked spots from his vision as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes, apprehension tickling the back of his mind as he recognized the suit as belonging to a Quarian. In fact the only quarian in Dhals Folly.

Ruhe came to a halt a respectable distance away from the human and clasped her hands together in front of her waist.

"Hello?" Harrison posited as he shifted his stance to face the quarian more squarely. He was taller than female, but not by much. Her glowing eyes barely eked out the glare of the setting sun over her shoulder.

"You have access to tools yes?" Her willowy voice seemed to float through the air, as if under threat of being blown away by a strong breeze.

"What? Uh yes. Why?"

"I need micro driver bits to repair one of my filtration units." She replied with a nod towards the Mech bay door.

Harrison chewed on his lip as he tried to recall the rules for letting people into the Bay. When he came up blank he nodded and turned to the door.

"Right. I have a few sets." He murmured as he swiped his Omni at the lock and shuffled inside. Ruhe followed silently, the grey and blue suited figure moving with a certain measured grace as she maintained her distance.

The cavernous interior of the bay was lined with the usual assortment of troop transports and light armored vehicles. Their dense metal hulls were a silent witness to the two as Harrison threaded his way to the back office. He glanced occasionally over his shoulder to check on the quarian, but each time he found her staring at the floor as she followed.

Her behavior struck Harrison as odd. He had encountered a quarian once before on Horizon, that one in particular appeared to be fairly skittish. But he would become engrossed in absorbing every detail of any mechanical contraption that he happened by the moment he caught sight of it.

As far as he could tell, the equipment and machines lining the bay barely merited a glance. He shrugged mentally and opened the workshop door, only to freeze mid step as he glanced at the steel work bench and spied a spent levo-medigel ampule. Black spots clustered on the floor in front of the bench.

Harrison tried to swallow the lump of panic in his throat and managed an awkward cough as he strode into the room and slid the ampule into a nearby bin. He tried to cover the move by reaching out for a tool kit but almost threw it when he opened it to reveal the tools of his relief.

"I.. ah… that's not it. One sec." He stammered as Ruhe stood in the doorway and looked on. Harrison shuffled to cover the black spots on the concrete floor with his booted feet as he awkwardly reached over the bench to grab another tool kit. This time he was successful and extended his arm to the statue still quarian.

Ruhe unclasped her hands and took a step forward, gently grabbing the kit in the process. She opened the kit and removed a bit and driver before depositing the box on the table. Harrison watched with barely concealed interest as she removed a section of the grey and blue material covering her envirosuit and went to work unfastening a credit chit sized device on her hip. When the final screw was removed the object hissed as its seal was broken.

"Don't you need to be in a clea-" Harrison started to say with a nervous edge but was silenced by a open hand.

"This is only the outer seat to the filter, the inner lays at the base of the cavity and will seal when the filter is pried out. I need you to remove it for me." She whispered. There was something in her voice that bespoke urgency. Harrison was jolted into action and frantically looked around for a set of needle nose pliers.

When the tool in question was found he gave a it a hasty wipe against his soiled sleeve, which probably did more harm than good, and stooped to inspect the small cavity. He placed a bracing hand against the material just above the opening so as to steady himself and was met with a sharp slap to the face by Ruhe.

"NO… touching." She exclaimed but lost steam quickly. Another migraine loomed in the back of her mind. There had already been too much stimulation for her lately. She couldn't stop replaying what she had seen 23 hours 15 minutes and 12 seconds ago for what felt like the millionth time. The group of turians lurking behind the squad bay would not have looked suspicious, were it not for the mere fact that they had been frantically scrubbing at their armor to remove something and whispering in hushed tones.

"OW what the hell!" Harrison exclaimed as he rubbed his face. Already a bright red welt was forming on his cheek.

Ruhe looked down and blinked in surprise. "Please don't touch me." she said shakily.

"Well then how the… fine whatever." Harrison grumbled and gave it another go, this time kneeling and holding the pliers with both hands.

The small cylinder came out with a pop and was swiftly replaced by another as Ruhe pulled one of 15 remaining filters from a thigh pouch. She set to work resecuring the cover immediately as Harrison stared at his new trophy curiously. He wondered just _what_ it filtered and moved to smell the small cylinder but felt eyes on him. He looked up to see Ruhe frozen in the middle of securing her fabric as she regarded him silently.

The welt on his face was surpassed by a flush that crept up his neck as he stood and nearly tripped over himself. The quarians head tracked his every move up until the point he set the filter down and stepped away from it. She resumed her work and replaced the bit and driver before sliding it across the work bench at the human.

"There's blood on the floor and you shouldn't have surgical implements in such an unsanitary location. Thank you for the kit." She whispered before practically evaporating from the workshop and leaving the Mech Bay.

Harrison stood open mouthed, staring at the door she had ghosted through for a long while, before the shame and awkwardness from his sloppiness made him want to crawl into an incinerator and hit ignite.


	3. Chapter 3 Heirloom

_"I've been caught! I was just experimenting with these powers. I can't really control it too well but I can levitate small objects. Anyway my squad leader walked into my room and caught me levitating a small cup of tea across the room._

 _Oh spirits the look on his face! As if I'd grown extra fingers and started walking on my ankles! He didn't say anything. He just backed out of the room and left. Later I approached him and he ignored me. When I pressed him for advice he only looked up and told me to get the hell away from him._

 _I think he told the other members of my squad, none of them look at me the same way._

 _I want to curl up and die."_

 **Dhal's Folley Digeris, 24 April 2186**

 **Medical Ward Intensive care unit**

Ferkan looked over his datapad when the bandaged humanoid shape laying before him shifted in his hospital bed. He watched the figure intently for a long moment before going back to reading over the medical report. The Prefects immaculate uniform was a sharp contrast to the disheveled ensemble he had hurriedly tossed upon cowl and spur to get to the hospital three days before.

A lot of things had happened in the intervening time, but chief among them was the discharge of Alarees and Jaa'Quan with a clean bill of health. Second to that were the results of a preliminary inquiry that had effectively concluded that there was enough evidence, a metric of both circumstantial and physical, to merit a full Hierarchy tribunal. Higher Headquarters, which was based on Palaven, had received the tacit approval by the Alliance to proceed given the sensitive nature of the event. Going so far as to quietly provide Gunnery Chief Barrett's service records.

Ferkan couldn't blame the Alliance for taking the silent approach; given the evidence and the nature of the questions raised, even a full pardon would leave the Alliance with a black eye. They wanted Barrett to be dealt with quietly and quickly so that the entire ordeal could be swept aside to keep the JSC moving along. The Prefect wondered briefly who they would usher in to replace the Gunnery Chief but dismissed the notion of concerning himself with Humanities plights; The furballs had only themselves to blame for all their maladies it would seem.

"A possible Cerberus sleeper agent." The onyx plated turian read aloud with disbelief. He glanced over his datapad at the human shaped cotton swab and snorted in disgust. A small sound caught his attention and he looked up to one of the many inscrutable medical readouts which had flashed a green light briefly. Ferkan surveyed the array of baffling equipment, attempting to discern function with a critical eye before shrugging mentally and heaving himself to his feet from the cushioned chair he had appropriated from the waiting room down the hall.

He figured that given the level of injury the human had sustained he would have a more intensive suite of care. But some of the objects in the room looked out of place, even to the veteran Hierarchy commander. Most notably was the Omnigel cylinder hooked up to what looked like an IV that branched to nearly every part of the humans body. Red/gray stains marked where needles had been attached and where medical gauze had been applied to cover the injection sites. Above the human a Magnetic Resonance Emitter (MRE) hummed and clicked as its internal functions manipulated the omnigel and implants.

Ferkan had been specifically warned of this device and how it was essentially controlling the Omnigels efforts to splice into the synthetic nerves and branch out to connect to muscle tissues as well as mend bone. He was told that he would have to stay out of the way of the machine and its field otherwise risk setting back the recovery of the human. The day after surgery was completed Ferkan had noted that the display beside the MRE showed only a few points of green along grey nerve clusters. But today more than half of the body was painted in a sickly green color on the display, shading the outline of muscles and nerves as it spread.

In Ferkans mind it was all academic, he would either have a conscious mangled human to stand trial or he would have a unconscious mangled human to stand trial. Turian military law did not find the distinction between the two states to be exclusionary of a being standing trial. There was even a clause for trying certain capital crimes _in absentia._ Ferkan briefly thought of Jaa and her would be Blackwatch brother.

 _Jaa'Quan_ …. _The spirits really have it out for you. A murderous traitor brother, a nearly fatal encounter with the Humans. And now this._ The turian inhaled deeply, shaking his head at the machines arrayed around him. He found himself doing that a lot lately, sighing and disdaining all that was put before him. A part of him silently regretted accepting the Prefect position for this little experiment.

A chime made the turian veteran glance up at the still form then to a display as an amber light began to pulse steadily. Soon after a white clad turian orderly whisked into the room and bowed briefly before practically ghosting to a control console and muting the chime. Ferkan looked around as the sound of something huge powering down whined overhead.

"That's enough radiation exposure for the human today Prefect. We try to keep him under during the night and have the Resonance Emitter do its thing then." The orderly explained as he brushed past the Commander and tended to some of the panels beside the human. "The Salarian says that it will help him keep his circadian rhythm since his body is essentially being reprogrammed."

A brow plate tilted and the Prefect crossed his arms as questions started bubbling up.

"Reprogrammed? Dr. Bau said his brain damage was limited to a few concussions." He glowered as his gaze drifted to the bed. It wouldn't do any good to have a vegetable standing trial, conscious or not it wouldn't look good to execute someone who was effectively brain dead.

The orderly shook his head, fractionally. "Oh no sir, it's his body that needs it. The Omnigel and medichines that lace his entire body are being programmed to manage healing in a cyclical pattern that mirrors his natural sleep cycle. Think about it like an ancient magnetic film tape. Once you burn the orientation of the magnets into the tape, it will repeat the same pattern when played, what we're doing is hardcoding this cycle into the medichines and synthetic neurons as well as speed up recovery with the MRE." The orderly said with a tinge of pride.

"This is groundbreaking medical science."

Ferkans eyes narrowed and his expression hardened as he faced the orderly.

"Such a waste then. He may be facing the edge of a Mexta if he's able to walk, a firing squad if not." He growled and motioned the orderly out.

"Y-yes Sir." The orderly sputtered and hastily made his escape.

When the door had closed Ferkan took a few tentative steps forward, eyeing the emitter panels overhead warily as he did so. It wasn't so much that Turz Ferkan was a luddite as much as he was paranoid of the dangers of unfamiliar technology. Given the proper instruction there wasn't anything the turian commander wouldn't give a try at.

Up to and including trying this whole combined arms gimmick the human had been teaching. Ferkan knew it was a professional faux paus to dismiss a tool or weapon out of spite of the person wielding it, but he couldn't help but wonder if the "alleged" depravity of this human was symptom or cause of what Max had been teaching. Ferkan found his clenched fist shaking and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

" _I am to be an impartial arbiter of justice._ " He gritted out in a low whisper.

"-Ree?"

Ferkans eyes snapped open at the rasp and he looked down to see a bandaged hand seek his. Everything stilled as the onyx plated turian watched the human blindly feel out the turians clawed hand and weakly grasp it.

"You're ok.."

Ferkan fought an upwelling of fight or flight instinct and remained frozen, watching the swollen shut eyes of the human pulse as he woke and tried to open them.

"Ree?"

Ferkan picked up on something coloring the humans flat one dimensional voice. Was it fear? Anger? A ragged breath came and went and the human squeezed Ferkans wrist urgently as something clear began leaking from the human's swollen eyes.

"Ree?..." Max pleaded and tried to move but found himself immobilized by the straps and casts that entombed his body. A warning chime sounded, this time accompanied by a crimson light that pulsed quickly. The Prefect took a step back, snatching his hand away just as the orderly rushed in and began tending to the human.

"Sir, please, I need to work with the patient." The orderly insisted behind a bone white sneeze guard. Ferkan looked up from the human's face as if in a daze and blinked a few times before nodding and smartly stepping out.

 **Staff Trailers, Dhals Folly**

"-I still don't think you should be alone Denae."

Ree chewed on her deformed thumb talon as she perched on the edge of the bed staring off into the unseen while Jaa preened and fussed around the fellow Cabalites trailer, fluffing a throw pillow here or adjusting some errant bit of furniture there.

"At the very least let me see the quartermaster about getting you a new domicile." She pressed as she gave up on impulsive cleaning and sat beside the distant cabalite. Ree leaned over almost instinctively and rested her onyx crest against Jaa's shoulder.

She responded by flicking off the couplings for her prosthetics and kicking the stainless alloy appendages off her knees as she pulled Ree closer and lay back, the distressed female in her arms. Jaa smiled wistfully as she breathed in her scent, it was sharp and metallic from the intervening days of neglect. Jaa felt a small thrill as she recalled the extended periods of shore leave spent in bed sleepily pleasuring one another. All before Kantose, before Max, before a Cerberus grenade mutilated her face and took her legs.

A long silence persisted up until the point that Jaa began to feel _bored_ with Ree's emotional distress and he shook the other female slightly.

"Hey. We're here and we're alive! We survived yet another wack job human and we're together! That's all that should matter."

Ree was there, physically at least. She had settled into a snug green and white long sleeve top with a knitted dark blue patterned collar that covered her neck when she had peeled off the androgynous hospital smock. The onyx plated turian tugged at her matching forest green shorts absently as she nodded diminutively. "Yea…"

Jaa's mandibles flared in annoyance.

"Yea? Yea!? That's not the Alarees I know, c'mon it's just me and you here. Remember the good old days?" Jaa chided as a hand slid down Ree's stomach.

The green females progress was halted as Ree seemed to wake and snatch at her hand. "No- I just. Spirits Jaa'Quan how can you be like this after what has happened?!" Ree snapped and writhed out of her embrace.

Something changed in Jaa's expression. Her amber eyes briefly looked like tongues of flame as Ree's electric blue ones stared uncertainly back in disbelief. Jaa fought the urge to lash out just then, her hand clenching as the urge to strike Ree briefly came and went. _It was ok, she was still learning, best not to rush things_ the double amputee thought to herself as she forced her expression to soften.

"Ok Denae. It's ok. I'm still here for you. Even if it's at a distance for now." She lingered a moment longer, eyes flitting over Ree before nodding to herself and shimmying off the bed donning her prosthetics along the way.

"You should at least bathe, it's been three days." Jaa continued as she looked over her shoulder at Ree. "I'm going to see about that new trailer." She said in a matter of factly tone and stood.

"I'll bring some dinner by ok? We can watch a vid together." She pressed as Ree went back to staring distantly at the far wall. Another flash of anger came and went for Jaa before she sighed and left the trailer. Obviously her project was going to take longer than anticipated.

Alarees blinked languidly at the sound of the door closing, her mind preoccupied with a cacophony of emotions and thoughts. Had Max been putting on a show this whole time? Was this some grand ploy to get her guard down and take advantage of her? It didn't make any sense, they had already been intimate before, or at least had tried to.

In another context Ree would have smiled as she remembered the look on Executor Pallins face when she had grabbed Max in a rash display of rebelliousness. But here and now, humor seemed like an almost alien concept.

 _It isn't right, this isn't right. It makes no SENSE._

She cupped her face as a steady whine of distress escaped her lower vocals. The smell of burnt carpet from the room next door, _his_ room, induced a sense of panic as the walls seemed to press in on her. She stood and barreled out of the trailer, fighting back tears and holding her head up high in the face of curious looks from passersby. She realized belatedly that it being a workday, her casual attire was out of place. It was too late however, she couldn't go back to that place, the scent and memories were too much just then.

Ree lost track of her feet, eventually finding herself standing indecisively in front of the Simulator building located on the northern side of the base. She glanced over her shoulder as she became self aware and stared blankly as Aeian T'Goni, an Asari huntress, waved at her from afar.

A part of the Cabalite craved a vent, someone to talk through things with. Equally so another part felt that this betrayal with the human had put an indelible mark on everyone's trustworthiness. Was everyone one out to just take advantage of her? Use her?

"Hey, Ma'am it's good to see you out and about."

The asari's soft blue features seemed to have teleported within spitting distance in the time Rees mind had wandered.

"I.. Uh.. Thank you?" Ree said as she noticed concern etch the Asari's features

Aeian smiled as if to assure there was no ill will and gestured towards the Sim building with a nod as she clasped her hands non threateningly in front of herself.

"Feeling a bit of Simming to get out of your own head?" She said with an eager smile.

Just then the Asari's complexion reminded her of blood, turian blood. A familiar voice crying for help as its owner clutched at useless legs, blue pools growing from wherever the stumps touched. She had left Jaa, she had willingly left her Mate and now she had pushed her away after yet another traumatic experience. Ree fought back tears again as the urge to call Jaa and apologize for her behavior seemed to make breathing hard.

"Y-yes." Ree gasped as she clutched at her cowl, her heart aching. It was too much, all of it was too much.

The Cabalite found herself being comforted by the Huntress as she was lead inside and sat down on one of the few benches that lined the hall leading to the Sim chamber.

"Hey, hey hey, Ma'am It's ok, you're safe here." Aeian said as she looked around the hall, her mind racing. She had only seen a being in this amount of distress once before, and that was when her lover Neaira had realized she had the Ardat-Yakshi trait. Aeian shook her head, dispelling the memory as she came up with a plan.

"You need some peace and ambience. Mmhmm, yes, thats whats in order." The Asari practically chirped as she tried to remain upbeat and cheerful despite Rees obvious distress.

"I have just the thing." She added and brought her Omni to bear.

Ree found herself being lead into the largest Sim chamber, its hexagon patterned walls wavering as the Asari's programming took hold and the scene began to form around the two. Ree put out a steadying hand as the terrain formed beneath her. The smooth rounded shapes of river stones seemed to writhe into existence all around her feet before a bed of sand and moss replaced the hexagon pattern of the floor.

The Cabalite looked up as weeping willows and the long tendrils of various ferns shimmered into focus, framing the dry riverbed she now stood in. Aeian rounded on Ree, motioning with an outstretched arm as the sleepy looking forest and meadow that solidified with a dull hazy sky overhead.

"This is from a Holo vid I saw of some place on earth. I had it coded into a sim for meditation, -ah let's step aside and let the river fill back up." She said with a encouraging smile as she gently took Ree's hand and guided her to a large stone plinth overlooking the river bed a short distance away. Ree came along, albeit in small shuffling steps as she surveyed her new surroundings warily. There were so many places to hide, so many angles, and no solid cover to get behind if someone had a weapon.

Insofar, Alarees experience with Simulation chambers had been mostly for training, as a matter of fact she couldn't recall if she had ever entered one recreationally. Though the technology was borderline miraculous it had its shortfalls, namely in the slightly out of focus feel everything had if you stared intently at an object. She knew it was partly due to the way all the emitters lining the chamber projected her surroundings into her eyes, for turians and their narrow ocular openings it was tough for the computer running the simulation to accurately predict what was being looked at. Hence why in most cases turian troopers would wear a visor of some sort to help the computer track eye movements if not override the emitters completely and project an image into the eye itself.

In this instance the slight fuzziness played in the simulations favor as it added a certain ethereal tinge to the picturesque surroundings. A tendril of mist curled in front of Ree, eddied by an unseen hand. She reached out and could've sworn she felt a coolness against her skin where the projected effect dispersed by the wake of her clawed fingers.

"This is where Neaira and I wish to be bonded some day. When.. Well more if some things change in my society. As I've no doubt you know, we can be set in our ways for lengthy periods of time." Aeian said softly as she watched Ree sift through the fog with long slow waves of the arms, as if wading through water.

The turian stopped and turned to the Huntress, drawn by something profoundly sad in her voice. Aeian blinked away the memories of her cursed lover, chiding herself for once again letting things that were out of her control seep into the present. She met Ree's questioning stare with a lopsided smile and a shrug. "Anyway, let's do something meditative. Have you heard of the deity Ajrakila and the discipline of the Songblade?"

Ree tugged at her sweater and shook her head as she withdrew her hands into her sleeves and fidgeted uncertainly.

Aeian smiled reassuringly and reached into her knapsack and produced what looked like a large metal hand, though it had six curved fingers of equal length. Ree had seen the object before, clipped to Aeians's back, but mistook it for some sort of ornamental crest. The object was almost the length of a forearm and had a roughly ovoid shape where the palm would be.

Ree took a step back when the Huntress held the object high overhead and gripped it by the palm. This triggered some sort of internal mechanism that made the glinting curved "fingers" splay with a sharp _*shing*_ before Aeian gracefully arced the bladed fingers down and out from her body as if striking a dancing pose.

"In early Athame theology there was a period called the third Pantheon, from which the deity Ajrakila came to be. Her teachings shaped the tribal nature of our society and gave us the earliest form of Martial Arts." She said as she closed her eyes and focused on her movements. She pirouetted and flowed into the next pose; a knee held high as the songblade arced crossbody then out as if to be thrown before halting suddenly as the Huntress dropped low, sweeping at an invisible foes feet as the bladed weapon came up defensively, all the while the asari gave the appearance of performing a graceful if not slightly evocative dance.

Alarees stood, mesmerised at how precise yet fluid her movements were. The multi-toned whine of the bladed implement followed each flick of the wrist and sweep of the arm as if crying out.

"Wh-what is that?" Ree asked cautiously. A part of her felt guilty for speaking, as if her crude words would break the almost angelic thing of beauty moving before her. Aeian didn't break stride when she replied, rolling from another defensive pose into a graceful somersault.

"It's the combined tones of each blade. They whistle so that I may do this!" She said as she chained another somersault and spun on heel, hurling the weapon out, only it seemed to fragment. Each blade detached, emitting a different tone as they fanned out spinning end over end. Aeian brought both hands together as she drew upon her biotics with a sigh.

Ree watched open mouthed as each blade began taking different paths in mid air, as if possessed by some unseen hand. The tone of each deadly implement picked up in pitch as they appeared to home in on a willow tree and formed a neat arch of glinting alloy as they cut a perfect semi circle through the fronds of the tree. The program hesitated for a noticeable split second as it caught up with the interaction of real world objects and rendered ones before the fronds dropped away exposing a neat little path through the trees drooping foliage.

Aeian smiled briefly before her face twisted in concentration and focused on bringing the blades back to her. They shot up and over the tree in a starburst pattern then formed a single file line aimed right at the Huntress. Ree found herself holding her breath as the whistling, spinning death closed the distance to the Asari at a breakneck speed in rapid succession. Aeian held out the palm section of the songblade, visibly bracing for the impact. Her whole body shook as each blade thumped back into their slots but she captured each one and gave a small flick of the wrist that "closed" the hand into its storage mode.

"Before implants we had to rely on sound to control the Songblade, and even then only especially gifted asari could wield the blade. The amount of blades increases the difficulty of control as you must be attentive to each one lest they escape your influence. -Granted modern guns have made the Songblades use impractical, but some still cherish and honor our heritage by practicing the old ways." Aeian said as she regarded the weapon fondly and traced its lines delicately with a finger. This particular Songblade had been a gift by her lover, albeit one she wasn't technically supposed to give as it was Neaira's mothers Songblade.

Ree couldn't help but smile as she watched the asari disappear into some obviously warm memories. "Well I doubt I would have the flexibility and grace in wielding such a weapon to say the least. Not to mention actually controlling something like that with implants, let alone without

" She prodded gently as Aeian set the implement down on top of her knapsack.

"With all due respect Cabalite, it's taken me 30 years to get "ok" with 6 blades. And even then my mentor would probably scoff at what I have just done regardless of the fact that she could only control three blades." She replied with a shrug.

"There's always room for improvement, even when you've surpassed those who came before you. I relish the challenge, however. It keeps one from getting complacent. -And perhaps more importantly, it keeps this stomach tight and fit." She added with a flicker of humor as she traced a delicate looking hand down her navel.

Ree was tilting her head, a question in her eyes for a brief moment before she caught on and laughed along with the Asari.

"Well I suppose the trade off for not being so long lived is not having to worry about loose skin. Don't get me wrong, I've seen a few of my kind look as though they are about to burst from their cowls." Ree snickered and let the ensuing silence linger as they both stood smiling at one another.

Aeian was the first to break the silence as she motioned to their surroundings. "Well I said let's do something meditative, what say you to some one on one songblade lessons? The poses can be quite relaxing. In exchange you can be my bodyguard from that horrible little imp Narn. That gold tattooed lout should have his hands too full with the confused Krogan to be trying to get into my pants."

Judging by the astonished look on Alarees face Aeian surmised that their chief instructor had missed out on quite a few things in the last week.

"Oh… well. I guess you don't know about Vaul. Truth be told I don't think Vaul knows about Vaul. He thinks he is being discreet, but he does this low throaty rumble thing when Narn comes by. And believe me, I've been courted by enough Krogan to know what that means. -But before I go into detail let's do some warm up stretches and get into our first pose." She said as she picked out a spot on the plinth and sat down.

Ree gave a small horrified laugh at all she had just heard and nodded her assent before moving to mirror the asari. Insofar the Huntress had been wildly successful in pulling Ree from her woes as she eagerly absorbed all that she said and did during the impromptu lesson.


	4. Chapter 4 Monster

_Sorry about not updating in awhile. Ever since I was reassigned I haven't been in exactly in the best state of mind. I'm awaiting training for one of the Cabal units. I told mother and father soon after I was caught. Their reaction was... strange. They smiled and encouraged me, but it all seemed so strained and fake. I don't think they want to lose another child. They say I'll be one of the elite few once I become a cabalite._

 _I just don't want to be erased like Sol. I don't want to be left behind and forgotten. They still won't talk about him."_

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 28 April 2186**

Ree stared at the caution tape barring her access to her mobilehome like domicile in confusion before remembering that it wasn't _her_ trailer anymore, and by extension the other half of it wasn't _his_ either. Jaa had kept her word and had managed to get the Cabalite a new trailer, next door to hers no less. The double amputee would have tried to boot out her housemate too if not for the fact that it was an elderly turian male who worked in the academics department of the academy. Relocating a tenured professor who was on retainer solely for the JSC program in favor of her lover would have been a bit much to ask for of Ferkan. The Prefect was sympathetic, but he was practical. If what Ree had heard was to be believed her move was justified more to preserve evidence then anything.

This had been the third time Ree had approached the old trailer out of habit before looking up and issuing a frustrated sigh and staring at the memory laced structure before shaking her head sadly and turning away. She rolled her shoulders and craned her neck to stretch it out as she felt another kink develop. Although Aeians Songblade lessons were proving to be informative as well as relaxing in an odd way, Ree silently dreaded the aftermath of each session. The exertions were exhausting and the focus required of some of the poses rivaled the will power and strength required of the initial phases of Cabalist training.

Ree thought the comparison to Cabalist training was apt given the fact that the Songblade dance was essentially serving the same purpose; To hone one's body and skills in a way that was unfamiliar to the pupil -namely biotic ability. The Cabalite had steadily repressed the sweat drenched memories of the torturous exercise and training in the name of forging a small elite biotic force over the years, but they came back unbidden as she tiredly sauntered to the correct trailer and collapsed onto her bed.

Alarees recalled the small camp on Palaven was where she and Jaa had first met, albeit briefly. Ree had been graduating an Advanced course the week Jaa had checked in to her Basic. She remembered how the green plated turians amber eyes had darted about fearfully. Truth be told it wasn't uncommon behavior given the stigma and perception most turians had of biotics. What had been surprising about Jaa was how _old_ she had been when she checked in. Typically biotics were swept up at an early age or were given up to the Hierarchy practically at birth by scared or ignorant parents. Jaa had already been serving in an infantry company when she "manifested" which was exceedingly rare.

When Jaa had later checked in to Ree's Cabal and they had grown close she learned why. Her parents were absolute monsters. So much so that she made Ree's Xenophobic and abusive uncle seem tame in comparison. Some of the Vikar lore had come to light after a tiring bit of recreational exercise had created a contented and relaxed atmosphere.

Ree rolled to her side and curled up as she closed her eyes and remembered how stunningly beautiful Jaa was as they both rest their heads on Kantose's chest. He had lay sleeping from their combined efforts as the two females silently stared into each other's eyes, caressing one another.

"Do you remember what you said to me when you came across the parade deck and picked me out of the crowd?" Jaa had breathed as she blinked languidly and pressed into Rees touch.

Ree had smiled and nodded, pressing closer to Jaa so that her lips almost brushed against the other females, "It's going to be ok, we look after our own." She whispered back then kissed her tenderly. "You looked terrified back then. I couldn't help but approach you."

Jaa pressed into the kiss and withdrew so that she may see Ree more clearly. A slender green plated hand aimlessly toyed with Kantose's naval as her gaze grew distant.

"I knew the moment I saw Father raise a hand to to my brother I could never show or say anything about this feeling I had in my bones. This energy." A clawed finger glowed purple with biotic energy as Jaa traced down towards Kantose sex, to which he smiled and shifted before giving a heavy lidded shake of the head as he was roused by the tingling sensation close to his sheath

"Lady, are you trying to drain the life from me?" He had said sleepily and gently caressed the plates beneath Jaa's short crest. He massaged down the back of her head before reaching out and doling out the same treatment to Ree. The females purred contentedly and pressed closer to him, soaking up his warmth for a few minutes before Kantose dozed off again

"Ive never known intimacy like this, I've never known freedom like this. Tell me I'm dreaming Ree."

Ree's fists curled into the sheets and she rolled over in bed as she covered her face in shame at the memory. It had been a dream, one that had turned into a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. She blamed herself for running away after the Cerberus raid. For abandoning the most soul crushingly pure and deep loves of her life. And now here she was, destroyed once again because she had been shallow and had been blind to what was becoming so obvious.

The Human was a monster.

 **Sighra Bau's Laboratory, Dhals Folly**

Operative Bau rubbed at his virtually non existent chin in a self admittedly human-derived behavior. The salarian knew it was a ultimately futile and inconsequential gesture that didn't actually aid in one's considerations or contemplations. But, and this was more to the point than anything else he could come up with, it gave his physical self something to do while his mind worked through at least 3 separate and concurrent scenarios.

"Motive is still the issue Prefect. Perhaps not for the Cerberus ties, but for the attack itself. If he was planning on killing them then there are far more effective and efficient means of doing so." Bau said finally and looked up to Ferkans holo image hovering above the salarians console.

"Perhaps he couldn't find a gun." Ferkans voice crackled over the link as his image flickered briefly.

"Barret had a fully armed and equipped arsenal staged outside of his trailer -to which he had sole access to. His Exo serving in autonomous mode could have swiftly taken both Cabalists out if leaving behind ballistic evidence was the concern. Failing that, the human undoubtedly possessed the strength himself. But this is all academic until we determine motive. The use of the neurotoxin implies non lethal intent. And to break into my labs and take that, and only that, implies he knew exactly what he was looking for."

Ferkans expression darkened, the stark contrasts due to the quality of the holo adding to the ominous expression painting the turians face.

"So you're telling me, Doctor, that a Cerberus sleeper agent went through all of the trouble of murdering two C-Sec officers, assaulting a third-"

Bau held up a silencing finger as he felt a twinge of annoyance at the Prefects assumptions.

"-Allegedly murdered two C-Sec officers. DNA evidence was inconclusive, furthermore Executor Pallin has been found dead, and if anyone is to be viewed with suspicion it would be Alarees Jorst given that holo vid footage shows her assaulting both an off duty C-Sec officer and the Executor a day later." Bau posited as he crossed his arms and stared unflinchingly back at the Prefect. Being an STG agent had taught Bau many valuable lessons, chief among them in this moment was to never let superiors run wild with their imaginations based on assumptions.

Ferkans mouth moved as she tried to come up with a retort but grew thoughtful when his anger subsided. The salarian was right, they were operating on a lot of circumstantial evidence.

"Ok. So motive. What are your thoughts?" He said after a calming breath.

"Baseless assumptions and opinions derived from circumstance alone. It would help to understand the human more completely in order to shape where the investigation should go." Sighra said absently as he jotted another note down on his terminal:

 _Familial ties and relationships?_

 _Father-MIA, contact Surkesh about possible intelligence trawl of Citadel security cameras._

 _Mother-Deceased recently, perhaps grief tied to actions?_

 _No known siblings-_

Ferkan watched the scientist type for a long moment before hitching a brow plate and speaking up.

"Well have you tried just talking to him?"

Sighra froze and looked up at Ferkan, his large eyes blinking in surprise.

"No. No I haven't"

Ferkan shook his head and sighed.

"I'll leave you to it then Doctor." He glowered back and ended the call.

Sighra stared at the spot where the Prefects image had been for a moment, briefly embarrassed for ignoring the obvious before thinking through how best to talk to Max. Going into the ward room and opening with "Hey so why did you drug and attempt to sexually assault two turians?" probably wasn't the best course of action. So he thought on how to get the most amount of information from the least amount of overt interrogation possible.

.

Ree pulled her sleeves over her hands nervously and fidgeted with the thick material as she took her first tentative steps into the ward room. She looked over her shoulder at Sighra who nodded encouragingly.

"He's still sedated and restrained. We'll be right outside watching and listening to the cameras." He reassured.

None of that information did anything to reduce the ball of ice in the turians cowl. But she nodded regardless and closed the door behind her before eyeing the still frame in the hospital bed warily. She glided silently across the polished tile floor to sit down on a high backed metal frame chair. Its starched sterile white protective cover crinkled as she settled in and drew a leg up to rest her ankle on its edge. She resisted the urge to tug on her sleeves by hitching them up to her elbows, this was business after all. She rested her elbow on her knee and held her head up with a clawed hand as she silently regarded Max.

Her carefully manicured expression of bored indifference melted away as she noticed how swollen and bruised the human was. Now that his bones had mostly healed and the sutures from both beating and surgery were removed he lay mostly naked so as to prevent bedsores.

The panel beside Max showed an almost solid green human silhouette, meaning the omni gel infusion was done and the artificial nerves had grown completely in. All that was left was rehabilitation and the retraining of motor skills. Ree briefly wondered if it would feel like the poison he fed her.

Her softened expression hardened as she went from observing every swollen bit of bruised and cut skin with trepidation to grim indifference.

 _He did this to himself._ She tried telling herself.

The block of ice in her gut cracked and she felt her throat tighten at the thought. She looked away from Max and breathed a deep shuddering sigh before steeling herself and looking back up. -Only to flinch violently when she was met with the faint green glow of Max's eyes.

He blinked at the motion, still unsure of what he was seeing or where he was. What he did know was that everything ached. The pain had a sharp, frozen edge to it. As if he lay exposed to a blizzard's wrath with only a pane of glass between him and soul piercing chill. He blinked and tried to focus his gaze on.. Anything. A hum seemed to drone faintly in his ears, which only grew louder as he blinked and squinted. His mouth felt as though it had been vacuumed and sand blasted of all moisture, the corner of his mouth was cracked and dry from the oxygen tube he had been on. He croaked an unintelligible noise as he tried moving his mouth and jaw to moisten his lips.

Ree eyed a water cup set just out of reach of Max and then settled back in the chair, hugging her raised knee with both arms as she watched the human steadily regain consciousness. The eyes were disconcerting, among other things. The turian grew agitated as it became apparent to her that he was ignoring her. Those glowing eyes seemed to glaze over her as he made a series of odd facial twitches. She ghosted the pads of her fingers over her own lips absently as she recalled the human's touch then shivered in revulsion.

The room steadily came into focus for Max, at first as a grainy flattened two dimensional image. A few blinks and suddenly it a washed out gray one with white highlights. He blinked a few more times, the hum changing pitch as the scene normalized into the muted palette of a hospital room.

 _"_ _Oh god."_ He wheezed and moved to touch his face but was taken aback as he found his arms restrained to the gurney. Panic overtook the dull roar of pain as he tried the other arm and found it secured as well. A hospital orderly whisked into the room and nodded at the Cabalite as he fed the human some water, which was met with a splutter as it happened before Max could even process it.

"W-wait, where am I? What happened? Where is she?" Max coughed after the Orderly as he beat a hasty retreat. Ree glanced up at a camera and silently thanked Bau for undoubtedly being the one to send the orderly in. She couldn't trust herself. Her emotional state was fluctuating rapidly as the human flailed and looked about almost comically

Was he screwing with her? Was this some sick joke?

"I'm right here." she replied with an almost guttural flatness to her voice.

Max froze instantly, listening intently and squinting at where he thought the sound had come from. The odd grey and white vision was back, and all he could see was a white shape sitting in a chair across from him. He sat up as much as his restraints would allow and concentrated on the shape until the colors washed back in.

White faded to a midnight black so dark it seemed to absorb the light around her. Glittering amongst the void where two electric blue-purple eyes staring back at him.

"Ree?"

The question went unanswered for a long time before Ree released her knee finally and neatly folded her hands in her lap.

"Yes Human."

It was the tone of someone utterly distant and uninterested in anything outside of formality. It was the voice of the small angry Cabalite Max had first encountered on Earth. It was the voice of something utterly and profoundly wrong.

"Are you?-what's happening." Max croaked as confusion gave way to panic. Was this some terrible nightmare? Some sick part of his subconscious.

Ree looked on as if watching a rabid Varrun in the throes of disease.

"I was pulled away before it happened. I didn't mean for this to happen." Max was pleading as stinging tears ran down a cut on his face and traced its swollen scarlet path down to his jaw.

He could see the lights again. An angry red carpet writhing up the hill towards him as he flailed and attempted to free himself of his armor. His restraints bit into his wrists as a sickening whine seemed to emanate from his body. Ree pressed back into her chair as the humans gurney gave an alarming groan and its handrail bent from his efforts.

Bau watched in alarm as Barrett's vital readings spiked and surpassed levels that were breathtaking for an instant. The Salarian slammed a palm down onto a button and rushed out of the adjacent room in time to see the human go limp from the sedatives he had triggered remotely.

Ree was standing now, fists balled as she glowed faintly with biotic energy. The chair she had been sitting on was now levitating at chest level, poised to become a missile if the human broke free. Bau raised a placating hand and gently plucked the chair from her field.

"It's ok, maximum allowable dose administered, he still has an IV in." Bau reassured the visibly distraught cabalite.

"What was that?!" She seethed as she spied human over the salarians shoulder. Bau's face twisted into an apologetic wince briefly as he turned to the human and looked over his restraints and vitals.

"More than likely shock, both psychological and neurological. I had to do a lot of grafting and splicing to repair all the nerve damage, but even that is small in comparison to the amount of growth that happened in order to supplant natural pathways." Bau said in a low tone as he tenderly checked the IV line that would deliver another dose of sedatives if the need arose.

Ree shuffled forward a few steps, cautiously surveying the human up close for the first time. The scars she had inflicted on him back on earth as well as on the Citadel were lost amongst the fresh lines of sutured cuts and grafted skin. He had gone from being a vaguely relatable humanoid to a mass of swollen scar tissue with eerie glowing green eyes.

"Hmm"

The noise from the salarian broke the spell of silence as Ree looked over to see Bau gingerly trace a finger down the human's arm to the IV injection point, it was obviously raised and swollen, as if the vein was backed up.

"How odd…"

Ree looked from where the Doctor was fussing about to Max's face as it twitched and mouthed something silently.

"Uhh, Doctor.."

Bau turned to the cabalite just as the Max's eyes fluttered open. Ree wasn't too keen on what happened next, but what was for certain was that the whine returned as the human sat up and lifted his arms, effortlessly snapping the restraints. Ree instinctively raised a biotic bubble as she lifted her arms to shield herself. Bau's eyes bugged as he was lifted by the scruff of his lab coat and turned to face the human.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME"

Bau's mouth hung open as his mind failed to comprehend what was happening. He looked down to see the IV had been ripped from the human's arm, a clear fluid seeping from where it had been.

"I-I-I-I"

The fury in the human's eyes withered away as he looked around for what felt like the first time. His eyes pinched shut as the ghostly images from the roiling depths of unconsciousness haunted his perception of reality. He had fought back the swath of angry red lights atop a hill as he found himself back in his armor and ejected once again.

He opened his eyes to find himself standing beside his hospital bed holding a terrified looking Salarian off the ground. He stood nude save for a poorly fitted pair of white underwear.

A stab of pain exploded behind his eyes and echoed throughout his body as another wave of surreal sensations fought to supplant where he was. His body shook as his eyes rolled back and he let Bau fall from his grasp, remaining frozen in place with his hands held up as if Bau were still in his clutches.

The gnashing teeth and bladed hands of the abominations that had tried to rend him limb by limb returned as the pain became his existence. Sinew and muscle rolled and pulsed under skin as Ree pulled Bau into her bubble and watched in open mouthed horror.

Ree coward in a corner, the shimmer of a biotic field making her appear as a ghostly shadow. Sighra fumbled with his Omni, panic making him punch the wrong command several times before he could raise security.

Two guards in full armor burst into the room and paused as they were confronted by the scene before them. The muzzles of their rifles wavered vaguely in the humans direction.

"Sir?" one said as he took a step toward the still immobile human.

"Out, everyone out. Let's go Cabalite!" Bau pleaded as the turian woman stood and craned her head curiously at Max. Her bubble wavered as she took in the pained expression on his face. The hum intensified as the muscle twitches ceased. The lights in the room brightened noticeably, making everyone look up nervously.

"By the spirits what is this?" she breathed as she felt something pulling her closer to Max. His face was turning an alarming shade of blue as his chest stopped moving. One of the guards attempted to grab Baus outstretched hand and pull the doctor past the human but found his armored body felt heavy. The STG operative lunged away from Ree towards the door and was caught by the guard offering a hand.

The hum ceased briefly to the tune of a loud *zap* as a rifle clattered to the ground, too hot to touch, it crackled and smoked from its casing.

"Cabalite, please let's go!" Bau shouted as he got behind a trooper and attempted to bring up the controls for the hospitals quarantine barriers on his omni tool.

Ree couldn't tear her gaze from the human as he lowered his arms and opened his eyes once again. This time he calmly surveyed the room with a blank expression, stopping at the smoking rifle on the floor. It skittered across the floor towards him as he bent and pick it up, surveying it methodically before losing interest and tossing it aside.

Bau smacked the muzzle of the other guards rifle away as it raised threateningly towards the human when he had picked up the damaged rifle. The rifle discharged, its hyper velocity slug banking off the polished duracrete floor and slamming into the control panel against the wall. Bau looked up to see the MRE above the humans bed seep an acrid coil of smoke as it shorted and shut down. The pull everyone felt ceased as the device overhead died.

Alarees watched in horrified fascination as Max turned to face her after staring at the smoking hole in the wall for a long moment. His gaze felt piercing to a degree that Ree would have felt even behind lead shielding. His eyes seemed distant and ancient as he scanned the turian, up until the point they locked eyes. She felt her heart lurch as something familiar flitted by those haunting green eyes.

The moment was broken when Max gasped, his brains need for oxygen overriding the hold on his body and breaking the spell. His eyes became wide and fearful as he awoke to his lungs burning for air. He sunk to his knees and held his head in his hands as he greedily sucked down air.

"Ma'am?"

Ree recoiled as an armored hand grabbed her arm, her slender frame slipped from the guards grasp. She spun on heel and kicked instinctively, the base of her clawed feet arcing into the guard's helmet. The turian male collapsed like a sack of bricks at the Cabalites feet as she took a defensive pose. She blinked in surprise as what had just happened registered.

"Oh no." She murmured as the human gasping on his knees was forgotten.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

All heads turned to the hospital room entrance as Prefect Ferkans imposing frame stood in the doorway.


	5. Chapter 5 Songblade

_"We're all the same! It's so good to know I wasn't the only one ostracized for manifesting so late. I know it's going to take some time for everyone to come out of their shells, but I have a good feeling about this group. There's another female, she has beautiful eyes. She's leaving soon, but want to get to know her."_

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 29 April 2186**

Harrison Reeve scratched at his elbow as he fidgeted in front of the M.M.U.L.E. He wondered briefly if the committee who designed the Mobile Munitions Utility Logistics Embarkation vehicle had spent as much time attempting a "clever" play on words as they did actually designing the bulky tracked container. Outwardly, the container looked like a tank that a five year old would design. Its tracks were narrow given its length and width and it lacked any sort of external armament. Where a turret would be, the flattened dome of a sensor suite stared back at Reeve.

 _No, all the guns are on the inside._

Reeve thought as he brought his datapad back up and attempted another access code to the mobile arsenal. The touch pad that controlled access to the main compartment flashed red in rebuke. Harrison gritted his teeth and sighed as a flash of annoyance overtook him. The sensor dome mocked him with infuriating silence.

The dull grey and green painted vehicle stood 4 feet tall and was nearly 6 feet wide including tracks. Its angular nose was heavily armored as where the skirts that protected the leading edge of its tracks. It was 10 feet long and featured a crude looking seat at its center that folded out of the way of the sensor dome when not in use.

When accessed, properly, its rear would open like a clam shell and provide cover for the user as they changed Exo-Armor accessories and or reloaded some of the bulkier munitions that couldn't be fed via ammunition sleeve directly to the suit. The entire system was designed to work in tandem with the Exo-Armor either autonomously as a sort of pack mule as well a or with a living occupant manning the Skeleton.

"Are we having issues?" Questioned the sickly sweet sing song tone of Jaa'Quan Vikar.

Reeve nearly jumped against the machine as the Cabalist seemed to materialize right behind him.

"Ah! –Fu, ah, oh, um. Good evening Ma'am." Reeve recovered as he turned to face the turian.

She stood there stone faced, one hand on her hip as she regarded the human silently for a moment. Reeve flushed and felt as if he floating above himself as he timidly looked up to meet the Cabalists gaze.

"The Prefect was fairly clear when he said he wanted an inventory of all of the Gunnery Chiefs weapons, what's the hold up?" She said with a small measure of disdain coloring her subvocals.

 _So this is business then._ Reeve thought to himself.

He rubbed at a scarred forearm over his sleeve and winced from the sting of her tone. Is this why she had not come to visit in so long? Was he failing her? Was she bored with him?

"Please. I can't get into the Mule unless someone of equal rank or higher than Gunny Barrett opens it. There are too many safeguards, up to and including self destruction if I tamper with it too much. This is top Alliance tech,-not only that, if it is fully stocked there are tactical nukes in it, which means it will irradiate the entire base if it does incinerate itself." Reeve pleaded as he continued to rub at the track marks running down his forearm.

Jaa's eyes narrowed, slits of amber glinted in the bright Digerian sun as she regarded the human coldly for an uncomfortable length of time. She crossed her arms and tapped a cybernetic foot, it's bladed toes gouging furrows into the red clay dirt they stood on.

"Unacceptable."

Reeve averted his eyes as he shut down and bowed his head. A stinging tear glinted briefly before being hidden by his unruly mop of dirty blonde hair. She hated him now. He was a failure. He silently cursed Commander Shepard for saving his useless hide from Horizon.

"I can't I can't I can't." He croaked as he used the sleeve of his drab gray jumpsuit to wipe his eyes.

His eyes widened as he yelped when the turians clawed hand shot out and grabbed the arm by the wrist. She slid the sleeve back, exposing all of his scars and tsked as she shook her head in disappointment.

"You will, you must, because I command it." She cooed as she dragged a talon down his forearm with her other hand. She steadily increased the pressure until an angry red line appeared. Reeve trembled as the sting of her cut gave way to a heady rush of adrenaline. He was alive, he was here, and he had purpose.

"Y-yes." He whimpered as he gazed upon the wound with awe. Nothing compared to the _rush._ He had tried to recreate the high by other means; Alcohol made him feel sick, stims made him tremble uncontrollably –not to mention the Alliance banned most narcotics. He had even given red sand a go, only to find the cheaply cut substance had been laced with a medley of chemicals intended to water down the batch. No, nothing compared to the _rush_ of seeing crimson tears race down his arm and drip languidly from his elbow.

"T-thank you." He whispered and smiled uncertainly up at Jaa. The turian traced a talon up his throat, stopping at his chin and lifted it gently. The disgusting fur ball's eyes searched out her features as she gave an amused twitch of the mandibles. Those bright blue eyes were almost an exact match to Kantose, except they were too big.

"Get it done my sweet." She breathed and released him.

Harrison watched her flow away and openly marveled at how graceful she was, prosthetics and all. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Ruhe Vas Konesh blinked in confusion at what she had just witnessed from her vantage point above as she leaned on the railing of the perimeter wall. Then she did something she hadn't willingly done since she became aware that her forceful eidetic memory wasn't normal, she replayed the incident from 30 seconds ago for 1 hour and 29 minutes. Several guards who roamed along the wall stopped and looked over the statue still quarian as she did this, a mixture of concern and bewilderment coloring their faces as each one stopped and openly gawked for a moment or two before shrugging and carrying on.

Aeian T'Goni sat cross legged in the sim chamber and meditated as she awaited her pupil. When she detected uncertain footsteps approaching she cast a heavy lidded gaze to where the door to the real world would materialize. The long pause before it did so made her break her position and stand slowly.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show." The asari said gently as Alarees bowed her way into the simulated forest and closed the door behind her.

"Are you.. Ok?" She pressed when the turian kept her back to the asari, clearly second guessing her decision to show up.

She was met with a small shake of the head before Ree finally turned and faced her. Aeian took a few cautious steps toward the Cabalist as she noted the empty gaze she cast. Ree stood silently for a moment, arms hanging limply at her side.

"I… I just don't know what to do." Ree said finally then barked in bitter laughter as her voice wavered. "Once again, here I am uncertain of what's even happened, much less what to do. I went to see him…"

Aeian was by her side instantly casting a comforting arm over her shoulder as she walked the turian to the rocky plinth they had taken to training on. Rees chin lulled as she walked, the weight of her anxiety bowing her head.

"Hey hey, it's ok. I'm right here." Aeian soothed as they sat and huddled close together.

She continued to gently massage the turians shoulder and waited, letting the other female find her words.

"Truth be told I didn't plan on coming after what happened in the hospital, but I couldn't find her –Jaa that is. And-"

She choked on the words, feeling as if speaking of such personal things were a betrayal.

"-I, it just doesn't feel right. None of this feels right. And when we're together I feel so hollow. It's like she's not really there. She comes and goes without a word and when I ask what she's doing she grows upset and throws the past in my face. I've apologized again and again but it's not enough. I know I can never make up for what happened but it feels like she wants me to… to. Spirits I just don't know!"

The words came in a tumultuous downpour as the pent up emotions broke through her calm exterior. She was holding her slender throat with a hand as if to choke the words off. Aeian spied the obvious scar that formed a ring around where her hand absently rubbed and pursed her lips.

"It sounds like there were problems even before the Gunnery Chief." The asari observed with a slow nod.

"That's what's killing me. I avoided her for so long after we got reassigned. I feel beholden to her, if not for the fact that she is Kin then for what we've endured and lost together. But what's happening now is just so bizarre. I mean now I question who did this-" She said as she pointed to the scar on her neck.

"-But then I see Max in the infirmary and he begs to talk to me even as they are restraining him and the look in his eyes is absolute terror. Meanwhile Jaa is nowhere to be found!"

Aeian bit back on her words as she questioned Sighra Bau's wisdom in having Ree act as interrogator when the turian was so clearly distraught over all that had happened. Instead she listened and held her supportively as the Cabalist vented. The young asari had learned many decades ago that sometimes listening was more important than trying to offer suggestions. But when the silence drew out the asari quirked a corner of her mouth as she thought about what she should say.

The huntress had spent some time among turians several years ago, and she had a workable understanding of cultural ticks and mannerisms. She likened the concept of Kin to be that of a close familial bond, one that observed deep intimacy and blooded action to those who would threaten those bonds. The innate behavior spread beyond small unit levels and seemed to play a part in how turians regarded those they swore to protect with their fleets. It wasn't so much that they were a species of action. It was more the sentiment that they were protecting their "own." How else could a species work in concert with the salarians to neuter the krogan race so blithely? It was that paternal instinct that was echoed in the battle cry "Victory at any cost."

The feeling of encountering such overwhelming resolution gave such idioms a sharper edge that Aeian understood better than most.

So in the grand scheme of things Aeian could understand the attack the Alliance Marine had endured. But the circumstances that prompted it was what eluded the huntress. Hearing the turian spill her heart out served to only further muddle her perception of the situation.

"When you say that you don't know who gave you that scar, what do you mean?" She asked gently. Of course she had heard the accusations that the human was actually a Cerberus spy, but had no context or knowledge of what had happened on the Citadel. Ree shook her head and wiped at the corners of her eyes with a sleeve and calmed her breathing before speaking.

"I went to C-Sec on a hunch about Max and found out about some Cerberus activity C-Sec had been investigating. On the way back I was attacked. -I was saved by a Drell but I never understood why I would be a target unless I had come close to uncovering something…" She trailed and shrugged. "I couldn't find anything else out so I put it behind me." Ree met the asari's gaze for the first time, her eyes wide and confused. "It just doesn't make sense, we had been.. close earlier, why not attack me then?"

Aeian pursed her lips again as she thought through it. "And he, -Max, had not done anything prior to this which would signify anything unusual?"

"No.. I mean I know he is still shaken up by his dead mate." Ree said then smiled briefly as she shook her head in amusement. "Actually not true. I caught him hyper-gliding from rooftops when he became some sort of adrenaline junky… Which was my fault partially." She said and briefly explained the abortive dinner party with the Embassy staff that ended in a spiteful stab at the humans past out of sheer childish angst against humans.

"But nothing malicious, in fact we became quite close after I punched him in the face." Ree's mandibles gave an amused twitch when the Asari's eyes bulged in shock "-Another long story." She said and cast a long sigh as she reached up and patted the asari's comforting hand. "I still don't know what the hell I should do, but it feels good to get it out. Sorry if I'm throwing this all at you, I feel it's really unfair to do so."

Aeian squeezed Ree tight.

"It is no problem at all. I'm glad to listen, our little sessions can do wonders for spirit and body, but the mind needs care as well. I'm sorry that I cannot do more -in fact I have some difficult news to bring up myself. I have received word from my unit that I am being recalled in a week. It seems the Council is preparing for something big and they are moving quite a few asari units around." She said apologetically.

Ree took the news in stride and nodded in acceptance. "Well when a human Spectre is screaming about building sized sentient machines coming to end all life I can see how the Council could get antsy."

Aeian saw the opportunity to change the subject and seized it. "Ah but I have a parting gift for you. The problem is now we have less time for you to earn it."

Ree cast a curious look at the asari as she pulled away and stood. She practically skipped to her knapsack and retrieved the Song Blade from its depths.

"No no no, I cannot! That's a priceless family heirloom!" Ree protested as she stood herself and shakily walked to the Huntress. The emotional weight of their talk seemed to ebb away like fatigue after a deep satisfying yawn.

"As I've said, you must earn it." Aeian said with a reassuring smile. Her expression grew firm and she motioned to the plinth. "Now, let us begin."

Ree met the gaze, leveling her own challenging stare back at the Huntress before springing into action and beginning to warm up.

Max lay wide awake in his hospital bed staring at the shadows cast on the ceiling from his new restraints. The Omni cuffs made his skin tingle as they limited his movement, exacting a sharp jolt if he pulled too hard against them. He became aware of an overwhelming sense of being watched and craned his head up to see the darkly tinted faceplate of the only quarian on Dhal's Folly staring unblinkingly back at him.

"Uh.. Can I help you?" Max said as he furrowed his brow in concentration. Ruhe was an oddity, even by quarian standards; Her silent observant nature bordered on the creepy and her technical prowess and determination made her a force to be reckoned with. Now however the silent observant routine bordered on irksome given Max's present situation.

Luminescent eyes blinked in reply and she slipped inside the room silently, pulling up a chair as she did so. Max couldn't help but note it was _the_ chair Ree had used to threaten him with when he had stood and shrugged aside his initial restraints. The chairs high back gave the appearance of a throne as the quarians tiny frame slide into its cushioned depths.

For a long moment Ruhe seemed to stare at a spot on Max's chest before her head craned to take in his entire frame. Max could only watch with equal parts annoyance and curiosity as she did so before concern began to etch his brow. Ruhe slowly extended a suited hand and held it mere centimeters above the humans navel.

"What are you doing?" He protested as he began to feel queasy. Ruhe withdrew and clasped her hands together before tucking them between her knees. The reading her suits sensors were giving her were bewildering, the near field scanner built into her glove detected an interfaceable tech but her data drives had no idea what frequency or modulation to even start with, let alone what to even attempt to send. Yet all the while something felt familiar about the readings.

Ruhe closed her eyes and sighed, parsing the memory and line of thought for review later.

"17:15 local time 19 April 2186" She started and looked up. The humans confused stare told her he wasn't following along. "17:15, 19 April 2186!" She insisted and held up a hand "Three turians, male. Centurion Narn Verfher, Specialist Trine Riggin, Corporal Ficgesict Tyranos,

and Corporal Dagon Ja'kor."

Max wrinkled his nose as a maddening itch came just then and glanced at his restraints in disdain. He gritted his teeth and looked back at the quarian as he bore through the sensation.

"What does that mean?" He said as Ruhe went back to surveying his body, this time she seemed to fixate on a ugly green bruise with jagged edges on his rib cage. The doctors said that was all that had remained of the broken ribs as they had been mended by the infusion therapy.

"Wait, that was shortly before the attack. What are you trying to say?" Ruhe continued to stare off.

"Ruhe!" He barked and she flinched before turning to face Max. "Is that what you are trying to tell me? If so you need to find the Prefect and tell him. Do you understand?"

"Translator is at optimal performance." She whispered back.

"Go-Good, I guess. Can you do it? Can you go tell him?"

"It's like the Geth.. Only.. Grown?" Ruhe said as she flipped off her sensors with a flick of the eyes to the right part of her internal heads up display. Her helmets built in eye tracking translated the move into action and data faded from her HUD.

"What? What are you talking about?" Max said as exasperation etched into his voice. "Go! Find Dominguez, or Dr. Bau or the Prefect."

"Ok" She breathed and began to stand. "Technician Harrison Reeve is malfunctioning as well." She said cryptically.

"Ms. Konesh, if that's the case I. Need. You. To. Tell. People." He pressed

"Im telling you." She said and wrung her hands as she felt a migraine coming.

"Im chained to a bed, what am I to do with that information?"

Ruhe surveyed the human as if noting the restraints for the first time. Her arm glowed as her Omni activated and she overrode the Omni cuffs and their control units with a elegant flourish of the hand.

Max look on in disbelief for a moment before a hand mercifully ended the itch that had been plaguing him for what felt like hours.

"Uh, I appreciate it, but I don't want you getting in trouble…"

It was then that Ruhe exhibited the most unnerving behavior Max had ever seen. Not because of what she did, but that it was her doing it. She shrugged, palms up, and left.

Max sat up and looked after her for a long moment as he rubbed his wrists.


	6. Chapter 6 Kin

_"I look back now and wonder why I ever hesitated coming out about my abilities. I don't think my life would feel as complete had I not. Basic training was tough but I've got it down, I've started my Apprenticeship with my first Cabal! And She's here! The female I mentioned earlier! her name is Alarees, she is so tender and caring. Words cannot describe the painful amounts of love I feel when she does even the simplest things. A reassuring touch, a knowing twitch of the mandible. I think I can't live without her."_

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 29 April 2186**

He could have left. He could have waited in ambush and taken a captive or the like. He could have even destroyed a good portion of the hospital using what was lying around and his fairly extensive knowledge of explosives. A dull rage smoldered in the pit of Max's stomach as he dwelled on how everyone was behaving. He eyed the door and felt himself begin to stand and move towards it, but instead he waited.

Max sat at the edge of his bed and flipped through a Omni pad loaded with grossly outdated E-Magazines left for visitors. The pages were all gibberish to him as his mind wandered. He thought through what he _should_ do as well as what had happened.

 _Did I commit some sort of horrible taboo? Why were those troopers there so fast? What did Bau do to me? Am I even me?_

Max let the Omni pad fall from his grip onto the bed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and took a calming breath. The thoughts felt _crisp_ and _loud, a_ s if he were actively shouting them. It made him feel feverish to be so aware of his thoughts.

 _There it is again!_

Max held out a hand and studied it as his vision went gray again. It was something that seemed to happen intermittently.

"Go away" He muttered and blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes only to find that it had seemingly worked. Only now his vision was a cartoonish band of vibrant colors. His hands were white red, where he moved his leg from on the bed came away as a orange while most of the bed took on a green hue. Something dark and purple spilled from the overhead vent as Max looked around in awe.

"Wait, this is thermal." He realized as he surveyed his hands more closely. Blood vessels coursed just below the surface, brightening with each hammer of his pulse. Only it seemed to be speeding up. Max fell back onto the bed and forced his breathing back under control. He screwed his eyes shut and balled his fists as a wave of disassociation made him feel like he was falling. His body felt like it was being consumed by static as his thoughts became hollow and he slipped into unconsciousness once again.

Sighra Bau was just entering his lab as Max stilled in the bed. The Salarian glanced at a live feed coming from the hospital of his "patient" and nodded as he noted that the human has as he had left him.

He deposited a boxed lunch he had picked up from the Mess hall on a desk beside his terminals and grabbed a small morsel to chew on as he booted all of his equipment back up. The stalk of some form of celery analog danced about from the corner of his mouth as he chewed absently on it. He rewatched the footage from the ill fated "interview" he had Alarees conducted and looked over his notes.

 _Familial ties and relationships?_

Bau crossed off the first note. The human was an only child and insofar his one constant "friend" was his previous commander Lieutenant Commander Roger Mattis whom had served alongside the Gunnery Chief intermittently. It had been Mattis who had requested Max be stationed back on Earth after the death of his wife if what his STG contacts had reported was true. Both Parents were career military with limited extended family.

 _Father-MIA, contact Surkesh about possible intelligence trawl of Citadel security cameras._

The next note gave the Salarian pause. Even his backchannel access to Council and C-Sec resources had turned up a blank. Augustus Barret had seemingly ceased to exist after Max had left on March 18th. In the intervening six weeks the only mention of the elder Barrett had been in the obituary listing for his Mother Viola on April 6th.

 _Mother-Deceased recently, perhaps grief tied to actions?_

According to Jaa'Quan Vikar, they were in the midst of a Life of the Dead ritual. Jaa had stated that the human had seemed on edge and kept staring her down. However Alarees had made note that Max had been in a slump from both his mother's death and the perception that he had not "gotten over" the loss of his wife. This ritual was to wipe the board clean and help him move on.

Bau's eyes narrowed when the video recording reached the part where Max had seemed to convulse and the turian sentry cried out as his weapon began smoking. The salarian overlayed sensor readings from the suite. There was a definite spike in electromagnetic readings emanating from the MRE overhead. The problem was it was supposed to have been powered down. Bau jotted a note down to emplace additional sensors in the humans hospital room.

Although the theory of what was done to preserve the human from permanent injury seemed fairly sound, the materials used and the method of splicing into Max's nervous system was cutting edge. In the data collected so far it appeared that the artificially "grown" nerve bundles had integrated splendidly with the humans organic synapses. However now it appeared that several bundles had grown bigger than anticipated and had in fact become more dense then what would be achievable by organic chemistry.

 _Perhaps a small run-away reaction of the Omni gel to the geth organic circuits was caused by the circuits ability to radiate on some unknown spectrum. The circuits themselves could of generated enough power themselves to override the MRE being turned off... Further research is required._

Bau cleared the video from his console and went back to his investigation notes.

 _Cabalist Jorst accompanied Max from earth and stated that if anything, she had been aggressive towards him._ He finished the celery stalk and rummaged in the lunch bag for a cup of what looked like yogurt but smelled of pickled fish and had the consistency of overcooked oatmeal. He spooned a few mouthfuls between his thin lips before setting the the cup down and swiveling in his stool to his forensics setup.

Chewing slowly as he peered through a microscope as he studied the humans fingerprints that had been found. They were clear, having been deposited on his medical reefer where he stored samples of the toxin used. Of the prints being a match there was no doubt. Bau had confirmed the prints matched both with Max's records and by scanning his prints while in the hospital, just to be certain.

But something about them bugged the Salarian. He swallowed the mush and grabbed the cup of paste as he slid off the stool and walked over to the reefer. He placed himself where Max would have been if he had opened the reefer and looked around his lab. His position put him in the view angle of a passive security sensor. -One that had malfunctioned by some unknown means. What was known was that its internals had been flexed and broken by a force of considerable magnitude.

 _Odd considering now obvious signs of impact on the sensors casing._

Bau reached out and mimicked the human's hand placement on the lid of the reefer.

 _Hmm. To get a good grip one would have to grab the lid by its edge, not on face of the container._

A lengthy pause ensued as the salarian finished the paste cup and thought intently on what was laid out before him.

 _A clear linear path. Step one, door lock is bypassed by a master card. No such card has been found in the humans belongings, nor any emulation software for Omni facsimile card. Step two, sensor is taken out by unknown means before he enters its field. Albeit the sensor is several centimeters beyond his reach unless he used a tool. Step three, he takes the neurotoxin sample and doesn't touch anything else. No smudges, no partial prints. Just some hair and skin cells located right where I'm standing._ Bau looked at his three fingered hand and then to the reefer.

He snapped his fingers as something clicked into place.

 _Why was he not wearing gloves? The reefer is kept at -196 Celsius. There were prints from both hands meaning his hands were bare._

Max had certainly been severely injured when Bau had found him, however despite the litany of injuries, cryo grade temperature burns were not among them.

 _Unless I missed something._

Bau jumped to action and tossed the now empty cup into a trashcan with a deft flick of the arm as he made his way back to his desk. He grabbed some sensor nodes and a high resolution medical scanner. He left his office with more questions than answers, intent on pursuing his new lead.

Corporal Dagon Ja'kor spotted Cabalist Vikar as she strode into the schools cafeteria and perked up. He waited until she had grabbed a tray of food and took up a seat in a corner before excusing himself from the other trainees at his table and walking with his tray towards the green plated female. He slowed his pace as he neared her and waited for her to look up.

When it was apparent that she hadn't noticed him he stopped and cleared his throat with a small nervous twitch of the mandibles.

"Corporal, if you so much as bat an eyelash at me I am coming over this table and inserting that lunch tray so far up your ass you'll taste steel every time to sneeze."

Ja'kor's mouth hung open as the words died in his throat. Jaa hadn't even looked up and was steadily shredding her louza steak with her utensils as she spoke. Ice dripped from every syllable while the cabalist prepped her meal with a bored sluggishness to her movements. The young Corporals mandibles and mouth flapped soundlessly as his brain seemed to cease functioning.

"...We're Tridend colony." He said weakly as he motioned to his markings. "And I just… I just wanted to say _we_ have your ba-"

The young males head snapped back as a glowing fist stabbed out and she biotically pulled him close to the table. Jaa's amber eyes burned with cold fury as they finally rose to meet the terrified Corporals stare.

"Yes. _Kin._ I am not blind nor am I deaf. But if you and the _others_ wish to retain the faculty of their eyes and ears then I _suggest_ that you resume your role as student and _only_ a student." She breathed as lethal violence roiled behind her amber eyes.

Ja'kors heart hammered in his cowl as the localised stasis field made his entire body tingle as if he was about to be electrocuted. Jaa's glowing fingers twitched and Ja'kor felt his heart labor as she _squeezed._ The contents of his tray spilled down his uniform from both the Pull and the violent shaking of his arms. His vision darkened and he felt himself begin to fade as Jaa let the moment hang before dismissively releasing her grip and turning back to her food.

Ja'kor gasped as feeling returned and the weight lifted. He looked around to see a few curious gazes leveled his way. He looked down and noticed the food now soiling his slate grey tunic and trousers. He hurriedly turned away as the terror from Jaa's stare had sank in and he felt as if a shadow were forming behind him. His gait was stiff as he barely managed to suppress his panic.

An unfortunate quarian exiting their own hermetically sealed chamber within the cafeteria was blindsided as the two collided. Ja'kor apologised hurriedly and almost broke out into a jog as the turian garnered even more curious stares. A chorus of guffaws could be heard from a group of krogan huddled in a corner. None of it registered to the terrified turian as he hastily apologized and fled the cafeteria.

Ruhe Vas Konesh frowned from behind her tinted visor as he smoothed her envirosuit and stared after the panicked trooper. Her gaze swung to where he had been coming from and she spotted the cabalist casually eating, a puddle of food on the floor in front of her table.

"Hey" Came a small sounding voice. Ruhe turned and faced Harrison, who had seemingly materialized from nowhere. "Are you ok?"

Ruhe nodded and turned to follow the fleeing Corporal, but not before Reeve could step in her way. He fidgeted with an empty cup as he struggled to come up with a way to put thoughts into words.

"L-Look, I just wanted to say that I don't know how to feel some times. Like, I know how to feel, but. -Oh god i sound like such an idiot. I just. I don't know if it's real, if I'm even here…" His eyes watered as his anxiety ramped up. It felt like every pair of eyes was focused on him right now even though the two merited hardly a passing glance since the male turian had ran off.

Ruhe noted the spike in heart rate and rapid breathing as the human became distressed and shook his head as he spoke. She half listened as she replayed her collision with the turian untill she could make out his face in her mind's eye.

 _"Ja'kor"_

Reeve ceased his fidgeting when the quarian whispered a name. "Wha, what?"

She gingerly stepped around him and left the cafeteria intent on heading back to the barracks where the male turian would presumably go. Harrison started after her, but stopped as his feet felt like lead blocks suddenly.

He wanted to explain what she had seen in the mech bay. To make her _understand._ Reeve glanced over his shoulder at Jaa and froze as she watched him intently whilst chewing a load of louza slowly. She nodded ever so slightly and Reeve smiled as elation made him feel lighter than air. He practically skipped back to his workspace, the quarian all but forgotten for now.

Max feigned sleep as an orderly entered his room and changed out the humans fluids and waste receptacles. The human being restrained to the bed meant that he was forced to utilize some fairly invasive and unpleasant means to managing waste. This had the secondary effect of requiring medical staff to enter his room often to service the equipment.

The human mentally noted the time and compared it to the previous visit.

 _Every two hours. On the dot._ He thought as he peeked out of a slitted eye at the orderlies back while he worked.

 _Ok, so I take him down and take what I can. What then? Hijack a shuttle and flee the planet?_

Max frowned as his vision changed on him yet again. This time the turian nurses silhouette glowed with radiating heat. He could practically feel the warmth emanating from him across the room. Max wasn't sure but it felt as though the turians heartbeat pulsed like the muted baseline of club music from behind a door.

"That will be all, thank you."

 _Oh shit_ Max thought as Bau entered and dismissed the orderly. To the turians credit he in as much ignored the salarian as he finished his chores and left with a curt nod. Bau paid the slight no attention as he immediately set to emplacing sensors in the hospital room. Max felt a tickle in the back of his mind as the small silver cubes turned on and flashed a small status indication. A dull ache spread through his body as another cube turned on. Bau frowned at his omni and tapped the cube before nodding and going to emplace the third.

The human shifted as the aching sensation turned into a tingle. Bau paused and glanced at Max warily before turning back to his sensors.

The STG operative listened to the humans breathing and felt a chill as he recognized the rapid cycle of someone quit clearly not asleep and undergoing some sort of discomfort. He pretended to become consumed with his task as his mind raced briefly before remembering that the human was restrained.

"Sorry to have woken you." He said after his initial panic subsided. Bau was still shaken by the events that had transpired the day prior. He did his best to not let apprehension seep into his voice, but he cleared a lump in his throat as he spoke regardless.

The salarian turned to the bed with a follow on comment at the tip of his tongue but froze as he faced a clearly unrestrained human standing in front of his bed. Max felt bad for the salarian as his huge alien eyes bugged and his thin lips spasmed before he half jumped half fell towards the door. Max kicked a chair at the door and succeeded in ensnaring the doctor as it collided with both salarian and door, tangling itself with the former as he flailed from the impact.

Max swiftly righted both doctor and chair before almost single handedly dropping the Bau on it and sliding the ensemble back across the room, away from the door. Max grabbed a seat for himself and straddled it backwards, crossing his arms over the backrest and resting his chin on his forearms as he regarded the dazed Sighra Bau silently for a moment.

"Sorry about that, but yall arent letting me get a word in edgewise and it's starting to piss me off." Max eyed the salarians hands as they seemed to regain function and move to activate his omni.

"I'm gonna to ask this really nice like, after that I'm going to become unpleasant in a way that wont change the outcome even if there were sentries posted just outside the door. Here it is: Don't touch anything, including yourself." Max said with a dangerous edge to his voice.

When Bau blinked and nodded after a hard swallow Max sat up and quirked a faint smile. "Good. It seems I have been at a severe disadvantage in not knowing just what the fuck has happened, what is happening, and what will happen. -And we're just gonna have to sit here until all parties are fully caught up. Do you understand?"

Bau regained enough composure to muster a non committal "Yes" before eyeing the door over Max's shoulder and sighing.


	7. Chapter 7 Understood

"We have a new join! He's a handsome specimen. Kantose is his name. I love watching as he grows stronger and learns to control his abilities. I see the uncertainty shed away and I am reminded of when I first came here. Ree has really taken a shine to him as well."

Dhal's Folly Digeris, 29 April 2186

Max rubbed an eye as he felt another visual episode coming on and grunted. "First off-" He started as he switched eyes. "Tell me just what the hell you put in me. I feel like i'm surrounded by static all the time and my freakin eyes won't stop bugging me."

Bau swallowed hard and couldn't help but gesture to the human as he replied. "We had to graft some artificial nerves to prevent permanent damage. The technique was proven to be effective in a more severe case, -although side effects are not yet fully understood." Bau said then slowly placed his hands back on his knees when Max's expression hardened.

The silence hung thick in the air and the salarian briefly grew annoyed with how ponderously slow the human seemed to be taking the information.

"Why are those cubes making my head tingle? What are they?" Max followed up with a nod towards the sensors.

"Fascinating." Bau said and almost lifted an arm to take note but stopped himself.

"Look, I don't appreciate being a guinea pig for whatever gadgetry you concocted. Secondly, turn the damn things off, its annoying. Third, we're digressing from what I really want to talk about." Max made the chair creak alarmingly as his large frame shifted and he leaned in even closer, teetering on two legs of the chair.

"Where is Ree, what happened, and why am I being treated like a murderer?" Max said with a deathly calm that belied the seething anger roiling behind his eyes.

"-I said turn those fucking things off!" He snapped after Bau sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment.

"If I may?" he replied with a motion to his omni. Max nodded and tensed as the salarian fiddled with his tool for a moment before sighing gratefully when the buzzing stopped.

"Ok, so…" Max said and stared expectantly at the salarian.

"This is an ongoing investigation mind you, in fact I came to inspect your hands."

"What?" Max's chair settled back on to all four legs as he un-crossed his arms and stared at his hands. "You have my prints already. They should be on file." He added distractedly then showed his palms to the doctor.

Bau nodded cryptically and mentally ticked something off his notes. His gut was telling him something was wrong here. Perhaps the human was a masterful double agent, or perhaps he was clueless in all of this.

"When was the last time you spoke to your father." Bau asked with the almost blase attitude of a C-Sec investigator. He watched the humans expression intently as the tables turned and Max was put under the spotlight.

"When I was on the citadel traveling here. March 17th? 18th? We didn't exactly have the best parting. The asshole didn't even show up to moms funeral." He said with open disdain.

"Fascinating."

"Say fascinating one more fucking time and I'm going to lose my shit on you." Max glared.

Bau briefly wondered if perhaps the human meant he was encountering irritable bowel issues due to his treatments but refrained from commenting as the humans expression seemed to indicate more annoyance than discomfort.

"Where is Ree?" Max rasped. Bau's evasiveness was making a ball of dread form in the pit of his stomach.

The Salarians eyes snapped back to Max's face, the bleary gaze that stared back at him gave him a small rush of energy as he felt the humans distress.

"She's alive. And quite healthy." Bau said with a measure of guilt. "Look. Gunnery Chief… The Prefect is seeking a Turian tribunal over what appears to be an attempted sexual assault of Cabalist Jorst and Vikar and the illegal use of a controlled substance. -Although I don't know if the toxin would qualify as such given how new it is and the lack of any preliminary investigative research aside from my own testing."

Max opened his mouth to cease the Doctors rambling but held off as he digested what he said.

Assault? Of Ree? But we were just having a drink and talking about our loved ones.

"-Although the protein profile would lend itself to labeled more accurately as a form of venom. But given its structure it resembles a virus due to the protein capsid housing the active protein. Albeit the cocktail of Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors produced by the base of the capsid does merit the venom theory. Curious how the entire genetic profile is so perfectly matched to humanoid biology."

Bau paused to take a breath but caught Max's eye and dipped his chin sheepishly. "Right. Yes. Present circumstances. Gunnery Chief, why is it that Alarees came here to Digeris with you? Did you know that Jaa'Quan and her had served together."  
Max leaned back, his brow furrowing as he mulled the question over. He hadn't really given the female turians move much thought. Outside of their spat on earth, he would be hard pressed to describe the female outside of "statuesque and angry." But that had been before they had gotten to know each other, before they had started to grow intimate.

"I knew of her serving with someone out here from her brother. Jorvan was always trying to get her to talk to her. I didn't know it was Vikar until we were on the way. We talked a bit about her past on the SSV Warsaw, but I didn't know how serious they had been until the Indomitable"

Bau nodded, he had of course pulled up all the information he could about their travel arrangements. He had even managed to use some contacts to pull the incident report regarding the attempted assault of the cabalist by a crew member of the Warsaw and the resulting hospital visit that very crew member incurred.

"The Warsaw. My contacts made mention of an incident." Bau lead.

Max's expression grew clouded as he recalled the state of the human on the shuttle.

"Look. I was going through some personal issues. And what happened didn't help. Ree was assaulted and I went a little too far." Max said after a long breath.

Bau studied the humans demeanor, noting the subtle twitch of his mouth as he collected himself.

"Why would I? -Assault them that is? We had already been intimate, or at least tried to." Max posited as he chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"Fascin- Err yes. There are many things that are not quite adding up. Tell me, what do you know of The Collectors?"

The human shrugged, feeling the last vestiges of violent anger recede with another sigh.

"Aside from what Commander Shepard has been screaming about, nothing. I believe one of the techs here is from a colony that was supposedly attacked by them, but the Alliance credited pirates for the abductions. -I mean do you really think there are sentient machines with genetically groomed pets running amok out of the Omega 4 Relay? I would think there would be more attention given if there was really that much traffic coming through that area. And in so far it's been only that human terrorist organization hanging out in that part of the galaxy."

"You mean Cerberus." Bau replied with a measure of distaste.

"Sure. Those maniacs. Look, I'm not seeing the relevance to what's going on" Max said as he stood.

Bau watched the human warily as he stretched and stood by the door, staring out of its small center window at the harshly illuminated hallway beyond. "What has the Alliance said about any of this?"

"They forwarded the required legal documents and declined to send an arbiter."

"Well how fucking comforting. I suppose this has to do with the JSC agreement of domestic law?" Max grunted with open disdain and looked over his shoulder at the salarian still sitting nervously behind him.

Bau's nod was met with a dejected shake of the head.

"And here I thought Salarians where the epitome of logic and reason." Ferkan sneered and turned to face the salarian from behind his desk.

"Prefect, there are both physical and psychological elements that just don't add up. As you said in the beginning, we need a motive, and thus far I cannot determine one. Secondly there are elements that appear connected but have no data to connect them. What I believe we have begun to do is cast Max in the light of being an... undistributed middle. -In that assuming because two things share a property, that makes them the same thing. Which leads to a garbled cause and effect, what you are saying essentially affirms the consequent.

In this instance it would be the dubious connections to Cerberus as well as the apparent attempt at drugging and assaulting the two Cabalists that creates a cause and effect. Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc as my studies would indicate the term to be in human law. " Bau said with unfaltering intensity.

Ferkan was taken aback by the Doctors energy, his mandibles twitched as he mulled it over.

"You know, you could have lead with that, instead of walking in here and saying 'I have a feeling that something is amiss' and cocking your head like a salty C-Sec Detective." Ferkan said with a wave of the hand toward a seat.

Bau uncrossed his arms and slid into the seat, an annoyed sigh halted at his throat. It always frustrated the salarian at how most species saw a need to sprawl out to varying degrees of comfort in order to hold a conversation. He wondered with a measure of dark humor if it had to do with freeing up resources so as to allow a higher sustained brain function.

Ferkan turned back to his floor to ceiling display of firearms mounted to the wall behind his desk.

"What do you see before me here?"

"Weapons?" Bau replied with a confused blink

"Would you say that they are fairly harmless at present time?"

"Yes. Granted that early model Asari plasma pistol has been properly discharged"

Ferkan eyed the weapon mentioned, his tawny frame going rigid momentarily before he slowly turned back to Bau and took his seat as well.

"My point is any one of them has the potential to take or change life if wielded by the most highly trained Spectre. The same is true if any one of them were wielded by the most inept simpleton as well." Ferkan bridged his fingers and leaned closer to Bau. His dark green colony markings showed signs of chipping and fading, as did his onyx black plates in small parts. Bau credited the wear and tear to being a fairly seasoned middle aged turian commander.

"A weapon was used. That much is perfectly clear. Now what we must determine is who wielded it and why." Ferkan said with an air of suspicion. "Tell me Doctor, what profound discovery has made you so resolute in your assumptions?"

Bau fidgeted in his seat before setting his jaw and producing an Omni pad. He fast forwarded past the chair being kicked at him and started the recording before laying the pad before the Prefect. Max telling the Salarian to disable the sensor blocks had done nothing to halt the passive camera feed being recorded back in Baus lab.

The range of emotions that crossed the turian Prefects face had gone from outrage and anger, to irritation, to skepticism, to intense scrutiny before settling back on irritation as the recording played. When the pertinent conversation had ended Bau retrieved the omni and slid it back into his lab coat.

"I pray to the spirits that he was restrained afterwards."

Baus lack of a response had him up and pacing, a furious edge threatening to boil over.

"Operative Bau, I have it very much in mind to have you arrested for aiding and abetting an enemy of the state." he glared and lifted an arm to summon guards to the hospital. "Do you have any idea what he could do if he got to his Armor and weapons?!"

Bau turned in his seat and raised a placating palm out. "Prefect, please, before you do anything. I'll have you know that Max has been collared with a compliance band and tracking chip." He said hurriedly and stood to show the readout on his omni.

"Also Technician Reeve managed to bypass the lockouts on his equipment and has secured it all in the mechbay down in the old Orbital Catapult control bunker. You'd need the Exo's armaments to get in there."

Ferkan's eyes narrowed as he glared at Bau. "You had no right to make such a decision. This human is danger-"

"Pardon, but the last I checked he was the one assaulted, Prefect." Bau said as he stood and faced the turian. "He has not demonstrated, both through action or language, any intent to cause harm. He is suspected of the charges. Your own laws dictate he is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The only time that changes is during times of war. I would even argue that collering and chipping him goes beyond what is reasonable. -He's yet to be even arraigned formally!" Bau stopped and looked around, uncertain if he had raised his voice as loud as he thought he did. His chest heaved rhythmically as his breathing became elevated.

The silence hung as both parties grew uncertain as to how to proceed. Bau was the first to break the silence, this time his usual paced cadence returning as he calmed. "I've looked at all aspects of this case, including the prosecutors. Prefect, I feel that perhaps you should remand all actionable interest to your deputy."

"How dare you. Are you doubting my competence?!"

"No Prefect, but I doubt your ability to be objective. You were the commander of both Jorst and Vikar around the time their Cabal was decimated in a raid, correct?"

The heat left Ferkans cowl as his mandibles gave a wide flap of alarm. "Thats none of your business." he hissed.

"But it is. Cabalite Vikar is the daughter of one of the more ranking Colonial officials from Tridend who sits on the Palaven Parliament. You served as an impartial Arbiter for her older brothers In Absentia case several years ago. After that the the Parliament quietly defunded the effort to pursue the fugitive 1st Lieutenant Soltanius Vikar, following that Jaa'Quan was pulled from an infantry unit and put under Cabalite training, only to report to your unit."

Ferkan felt his tongue go dry from his mouth hanging open as he stared wide eyed at Sighra Bau. STG Operative Sighra Bau, hatchmate of Spectre Jondum Bau if the reports were to be believed. If anyone had connections it would be Sighra.

The turian commander recovered and slowly poured himself of water from a rather plain looking plastic pitcher. He tipped the glass back in the peculiar way turians do to drink and sighed as his mind came no closer to being made up. Bau stood by silently, his hands clasped neatly behind his back as his large eyes watched Ferkan intently.

"Well Dr. Bau, I'm afraid I have no idea where any of this is going. If this is an attempt at undermining my Command I can and will have you charged as such. If anything all you have pointed out is that I have wielded authority over the Vikars. To the extent that based on what was presented I rightly convicted a murderous deserter to the Hierarchy." Ferkan said in a low tone, his mandibles flaring menacingly.

The now empty cup shook in his grip as his annoyance gave way to anger once again.

"Furthermore, and I do apologize for the unprofessionalism, but fuck you. I dont have the obligation or inclination to justify my actions to you."

Bau nodded, almost gratefully. "I do understand the sentiment Prefect, I truly do. And I fully acknowledge that this is all conjecture at this point. But Delegate Menoit Vikar, Jaa'Quans father personally signed the order to defund the search for his… wayward son. Something you could have easily vetoed and put before the Parliament. Following that his daughter 'manifested' as a biotic, well beyond the typical age most do. How long do you think he had hidden her abilities. Had coached her and suppressed her growth? And when it had happened she was whisked away to training and put into your unit. A Vikar for a Vikar."

Ferkan looked down at the cup in his hand as it emitted a crunching noise before splintering into shards of brittle plastic.

"Salarian, I swear to the Spirits if you do not stop this line of thought I will have you declared persona non grata aboard any property belonging to the Hierarchy." He breathed as he looked up slowly to meet the STG operatives inscrutable gaze.

"Understood."

It was said both as a statement and a question. The salarian was amped, ready for this confrontation to turn physical despite his seemingly stately posture.

When he had began digging into the people involved in the incident he noted a recurring theme among the turians involved; where ever Menoit Vikar was, Turz Ferkan seemed to be not far away. And where either was, a child of the Vikars was closer still. Despite being a Colonial Delegate, the Tridend native seemed to find himself on quite a few Hierarchy Military committees.

It was odd given the isolationist and often xenophobic reputation of most Tridend natives had. They even detested the more mainstream practice of open relationships.

The one major outlier in all of this was Jorvan, the elder brother to both Sol and Jaa. He had been sent to work on earth in the middle of a tour serving under Ferkan. Bau deliberately left this tidbit out. He had enough sense to know a closely guarded tryst when he saw one.

More importantly he detested the idea of having to out a sitting member of the turian delegation as well as a highly regarded commander and his affections for both the delegate and his son in the name of ensuring a fair trial for what looked to be an attempt at framing the human as some sort of depraved maniac.

But the principal of the matter will have to be addressed in due time. Bau thought to himself as he watched Ferkan slowly place the ruined cup down on the edge of his long desk and wipe his hands discreetly on a pant leg.

Internally Ferkan was screaming. This "trivial" matter had brought to light some fairly damning evidence. A lot was thankfully unsaid, but now Bau was a threat. To him, to Menoit, to all he had built and achieved. An icy cool came to the turian commander as he nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes. Understood. You may see yourself out."

The air in the room felt thick as the tension continued unabated, both parties unsure of the next move beyond the door being presented to Bau. The salarion snapped to attention briefly before walking stiffly to the door.

"-My deputy will contact you shortly with the appropriate authorities granted to conduct the tribunal." Ferkan said with a calm he didn't feel as Bau reached for the door handle.

The Salarian merely nodded and slipped out of the office like a ghost, which was a fairly apt description given his lab coat and the pale pallor of his hide from the monumental weight that now bore down on him.

The moment the door closed Ferkan went back to his wall display and yanked the asari plasma pistol down, opening its fuel cell magazine well angrily. He had half a mind to test fire it at the door Bau had just passed through. He growled as a half dead cell popped out and rolled across the faux wood floor with a clatter.


	8. Chapter 8 Marsupial Judicial Proceedings

_I don't want anything to change, ever. I love them so much. But I feel guilty sometimes, Ree will always be my first love, and I covet her sometimes. She's as caring and gentle as ever but sometimes I feel my attentions are too much. And she isn't as passionate. I've got to keep myself in check. I don't want to lose her."_

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 4 May 2186**

"All rise. Attention to orders! Let it be known that on this date of 2186 05 04 CE a Tribunal was summoned at the behest of governance as dictated by the Law of Hierarchy Military Justice. In accordance with the greater Unification Parliament of 509 BCE and the code dictating the Citizenship Tiers of all associated delegations of the Hierarchy. Major Denioc Talkinar shall preside over these proceedings by Direct Authorization of the Prefect. All may sit."

Max awkwardly slid back into the small metal framed chair provided behind a tiny steel desk. The turian Adjutant who had spoken neatly tucked away the Omni Pad he had been reading from and marched smartly passed the human with nary a glance at him.

The classroom that had been repurposed for the trial seemed to play into the gravitas of the happenings given its layout. The raised semi-circular seating that radiated up and away from the small stage that served as the teachers platform made for a natural focal point. A focal point that consisted of two small tables set in front of a long desk against the back wall. Where holo displays would normally display various technical illustrations and case studies, now floated twin displays of the Hierarchy crest, revolving slowly behind the Arbiter.

Max glanced over his shoulder as the assortment of onlookers occupying student seats. He noted with some apprehension that the majority of the people looking back were turian. Max spotted Shath Vaul lurking against the back wall of the classroom, his unmistakable krogan frame looming over a few asari gathered around him.

"Gunnery Chief Maximillian Barrett of the System Alliance Marine Corps. You stand charged with attempted assault of Hierarchy personnel, use of an illicit substance with the intent to do harm, larceny, destruction of Hierarchy property, and collusion with known enemies of state. How do you plea?"

Max's head swung around to meet Major Deniocs level gaze. Max had seen the Prefects right hand very few times, and when he had it was always under the pretext of some sort of academic review. He spoke very little and was generally viewed a fairly shrewd turian by those who knew him. His clay colored skin tone contrasted fractionally against his mottled brown and gray plating. His markings were conservative and gold, signifying some connection to Thracia colony.

"Not-not guilty" He stammered and squinted when he could have sworn he saw the turian turn a whitish red briefly.

Deniocs mandible twitched inscrutably at the act before turning his head to the table set beside Max's "Does the Tribunal wish to present eminent evidence pertinent to this case before concluding this arraignment?"

Max knew enough of courts in general to understand that this was where the most danger existed. With the right wording the Tribunal's Adjutant could paint the picture that the defendant is a genocidal maniac a talons breadth away from detonating nukes in an orphanage and should be physically restrained at all times.

Thus far Max had enjoyed some semblance of freedom even if he couldn't leave his dorm room without armed guards to take him to and from the cafeteria only. He tugged at the tracking collar around his neck, wincing as it sent a warning jolt into him. The shock was enough to make his whole body tense.

"Major, we believe the accused to be of eminent threat to those victimized and should be kept in isolation from them. Furthermore we believe any and all communication should be monitored given the charge of collusion with enemies of the state. Lastly he should be monitored by use of tracking band an-"

"He's already banded Executor. Aside from the _obvious_ are there any pertinent facts that would preclude his physical freedoms?"

Max's head snapped from the Executor to Major, his bored, almost irritated tone caught him guard. He looked him over thoughtfully, this time noting the forward body language of the Arbiter as he laced his fingers neatly on the desk and turned his whole body to face the Executor. His mandibles where absolutely still save for the small waggle of his slow and steady breathing.

"No, Sir."

"Well then would the Tribunal wish to present its evidence now and forego a review?"

The young male turian serving as the Executor was clearly out of his comfort zone with the Major staring him down. Max's gaze flitted from one to the other as the silence grew uncomfortable, at least for the human. The two turians seemed to be having some sort of silent exchange as their face plates shifted ever so slightly.

"Sir, in the interest of fairness I believe the Non-Tiered defendant should be allowed a review given the onus of self representation."

That drew a small murmur from the crowed as the Adjutant planted his feet and stood tall. The Executor merely nodded and leaned back in his chair, steeping his clawed fingers as he stared off somewhere between Max and the Adjutant.

"Yes. That is true unless the Defendant would like to request a representative or forego trial in favor of [untranslatable] en Mexta."

"Once again sir, this human is non tiered and would be at a handicap if he were to forego the trial."

 _What the hell is going on._

Max looked over his shoulder to see all the turians in the crowd nodding in agreement. His bewildered gaze caught the eye of Sighra Bau seated a few rows behind him. The salarian fidgeted nervously as he recalled just what was being discussed.

"Ah, but would he? I am humble enough the acknowledge a certain… tactical cunning at Shanxi. A Mexta doesn't care if its flesh or plate that it rends." The Executor continued, seemingly oblivious to the humans growing confusion

"I volunteer as representative council!"

The silence that followed Bau's exclamation was deafening. The only motion in the entire room were the spinning Hierarchy crests behind the Executor. Their golden glow cast a halo of light around the turians crown as he stared at Bau intently.

"I would question the ability to remain impartial given the fact _you_ provided the evidence for this case."

"I merely presented evidence of actions which are circumstantially tied to the defendant, furthermore I have additional testimony and evidence which casts this case in a new light."

"No. Sit down Dr. Bau."

"Then let me at least brief the Defendant on the proceedings. Your Adjutant even pointed out his ignorance and unfamiliarity with Hierarchy law!"

The people seated around Bau visibly leaned away from the salarian, as if he were about to explode from the laser like stare coming from Major Denioc. Max turned to face Denioc, the color gone from his face as the turian Executor glanced at the human before leaning back in his seat and shifting into a more leisurely posture.

"Yes, but ignorance of the law does not justify breaking the law. I do, however, concede your point. Adjutant, annotate current time for the record, we will adjourn for one hour. Dismissed."

Max found himself scrambling to stand as every turian in the room stood almost in unison and waited for Major Denioc to exit out of a side door set beside the stage. Max knew off hand that it lead to a small break room as well as an extranet terminal lab. What did surprise him was that Prefect Ferkan was waiting in the hallway. Major Denioc dipped his chin respectfully and began talking with him almost the moment the door opened.

"Gunnery Chief, please, we haven't much time." The salarians urgent tone was almost lost in the din of conversations that started the moment Denioc stepped off stage. Max looked down to see the Sighra urging him to follow him through the door set opposite to the Executors. This one lead to the main corridor and was lined with utility closets and vending machines. It was a common milling spot for students on break. Now, however, it was vacant save for the salarian and human walking at a rapid clip to another Extra Net lab.

"Listen. There are very few outcomes that can come from this. Each depends on how the trial is to be conducted. They were discussing one such method. Basically a trial by combat. Another option is summary judgement by the Executor. To which he is presented all the evidence and decides alone. The last option is the most favorable and involves representation wherein both parties would debate and examine evidence. This is typically done when one party is unavailable."

Max found himself struggling to keep pace as he listened intently.

"What do you mean trial by combat? Like to the death?"

Bau nodded as he rounded a corner and entered the lab. He slid behind the nearest terminal and began typing away as he replied.

"Yes. And you don't have a say if the Executor calls for it. But that's only in cases of Capital crimes. -Except if…"

Max leaned over the salarians shoulder as he blazed through a myriad of information. At first it seemed like a flurry of text and links, but when he focused on the screen he felt his chest grow heavy as the information began to tick by at an agonizingly slow pace.

"I. Cant. breath." Came a voice that sounded more elcor than human as Max's arm waded through molasses to clutch his chest.

"Whaaaat?" an even deeper voice came from Bau.

The human squeezed his eyes shut and tried to pull air into his lungs with all his strength. A dull roar of blood being pumped by his heart reached a crescendo and was followed by another blast of life giving blood.

Bau turned and looked at the human, who was panting as he balled his alliance tunic in his fist. He noted how pale Max looked and glanced at his Omni tool. The control collar could also monitor vitals as well as induce a lethal shock. Right now it read abnormally high blood pressure and a spike in blood acidity.

"Are you ok? May I give you a proper scan?" Bau said as he began to stand.

"NO. no. I'm just. Goddam." Max wheezed and looked at the perplexed Doctor before averting his gaze and avoiding the screen entirely.

"You were saying?" He added with more composure.

Bau made a mental note to look into the sensitivity to scanning as well as the humans vitals, but nodded hesitantly and turned back to the terminal.

"Ah yes. _In cases wherein the besieged hast retained faculty of ability to combat. Then such may be the case that they shall elect direct challenge despite the proceedings granted if the Executor determines the evidence on hand warrants a summary judgement."_ The salarian practically writhed with nervous energy in the seat as he read off the information.

"As it stands, since I am disbarred from representing you, our best bet is to elect summary judgement. I will present all the information and evidence I have, as will the Adjutant. From there we will have another recess where Major Denioc will consider what's presented and make a judgement."

Max chanced a glance at the screen and felt it humming with energy as he read the words himself. He squinted as the salarian script seemed to bleed into the human Standard script.

"Ok, so what evidence is there?" Max said with a grunt as he stood up and smoothed his tunic.

"There is some physical evidence that you were in my lab, specifically at the cryo storage locker where the toxin was stored. However your lack of burns from the extreme cold makes you reaching into the locker unlikely. There was also some epithelia skin cells, but that is also suspect given you have been in my lab prior to the incident. The other evidence is largely circumstantial."

Max nodded and crossed his arms.

"So what's at stake if this thing goes pear shaped?"

"You mean found guilty?"

"Yes Bau, what happens if the Executor find me guilty?"

Sighra stood and slid the chair in before turning to Max.

"Depends on what charges he finds you guilty of. The most severe is the collusion charge. That's is a capital crime. The others can mean time on a penal ship."

"Great, so I could end up dead or on a floating prison which has the likelihood of containing some mass murdering biotic prone to destroying the entire thing."

Max snorted in disgust as he crossed his arms. He still felt a bit woozy from the episode, but his sense of self was returning rapidly.

"Thanks Doc. Although at first I wanted to punch you."

"An acceptable sentiment given the circumstances."

"Attention on deck. The Executor has summoned this Tribunal back into session."

Max managed to stand roughly at the same time as all the others but still had to sit awkwardly in the almost too small chair when Major Denioc called for everyone to be seated.

"Yes, so I take it the Defendant has be thoroughly counseled?" Denioc opened with. He stared pointedly at Dr. Bau who nodded and squirmed from the sidelong glances being cast his way.

"Very well. Adjutant, you may proceed."

"Yes sir. At this time I would like to solicit the defendant their elected means of scrutiny."

 _You mean you want me to take the rope your handing out and tie a noose with it_

Max stood and mimicked the turian head nod he had seen so often from subordinates to superiors.

"Yes. Your Hon- Mr. Executor Sir. I would elect a Summary Judgement."

Denioc nodded and noted something on an omni tablet.

"Very well. Adjutant, please provide an itemized list of the evidence to be presented and select your first testimony candidate."

"Yes Sir."

Max tried as best he could to pay attention to every utterance and detail presented, but the sheer volume of information coupled with the stiff and formal exchanges made him fade out of the moment a few times. He steadily drained the pitcher of water provided as the minutes turned into hours. He found himself trying for the last few drops of water into a small plastic cup when the tone changed and a name caught his ear.

"Cabalist Alarees Jorst has elected to abstain from the proceedings but, as I am sure you know Sir, can be summoned at the behest of this Tribunal. Cabalist Jaa'Quan Vikar stands ready when needed and has elected no considerations with regard to being the besieged."

Max looked around the classroom for the double amputee but could not spot her. He also noticed with some apprehension that Bau was nowhere to be seen as well.

"Very well, please summon Cabalite Vikar"

The Adjutant nodded and tapped something out on his Omni. A moment later an armed sentry entered the room from where Major Denioc had taken his recess. Jaa followed close behind, standing tall and proud as she marched up on to the stage and took a seat beside the Executors desk.

"Cabalite, you have been summoned at the request of this Tribunal. Do you swear to uphold the integrity and fortitude as mandated by Hierarchy Law of its Citizens." The Adjutant said in a measured tone as me motioned towards the gold crests revolving behind the Executor.

"I do."

Max watched as the proud females shoulders sagged fractionally. Her mandibles twitched languidly as her aura shifted to that of someone fearful of something nearby.

 _That's me. She really thinks I did all this!_

The questioning began in earnest; When had Jaa first met Max. What behavior had he exhibited early on as well as when she began to feel threatened.

"I just remember this one time in the Recreation center where *hiccup* we had a slight altercation."

 _You mean you tried choking me with your tongue after stabbing me with your bladed feet._

"I see. Is this the incident as described by Evidence item 36B?" The Adjutant said as he raised an omnipad for the Executor to see before approaching and sliding it to the Major.

"Yes." Jaa replied with a sad drone to her sub vocals.

Max watched as the Executors brow plates furrowed while he read.

"Executor, evidence item 36A will also be supplied as the testimony of Centurion Narn Verfher as he witnessed some aspects of this incident."

Denioc merely nodded as he continued to read for a while. He gave labored sigh and leaned back, sliding the data pad away. In the very rear of the classroom Shath Vauls lumbering krogan frame shifted as his eyes narrowed on the back of Narn's head. The gold tattooed turian hardly budged, and like all the other Hierarchy citizens in the room, stared motionlessly at the proceedings below.

"Continue" The Executor said tiredly as he pinched his brow.

Max remembered he had his own data pad and reached across his table for it. He pulled up the evidence list and scrolled to 36B. He opened the document and began reading as the questioning continued in the background.

On the night of 6 April, 2186 I, Cabalite Jaa'Quan Vikar of the Joint Species Coalition Training Base was accompanied by Gunnery Chief Maximillian Barrett to the JSCTB's Recreation center. It was after several drinks that I had excused myself to use the restroom. At that time the human had begun to act very strangely.

It was then that I was accosted by the human. He groped me over my uniform and physically assaulted me. I fought back and executed a standing mount wherein I wounded the human with my augmentations. He left soon thereafter. When I emerged from the restroom Centurion Narn Verfher, a student at the JSCTB, came to my aid.

I did not file a report at the time for I did not know if I should attribute such behavior to a cross species misunderstanding or to the effects of synthohol.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Max looked up to see both the Adjutant and Executor staring at him. Jaa's gaze slowly shifted from the Adjutant to him, her eyes positively glittering with joy. She suppressed a laugh with a shudder and feigned a sharp intake of breath.

"Gunnery Chief, if you do not mind, we are conducting a Tribunal. Such outbursts will not be tolerated."

Major Denioc's mandible fluttered with agitation as a low murmur grew in the crowd.

"Silence! I will jail the next person who speaks out of turn!" Denioc continued menacingly at the crowd at large.

"Thank you sir." The Adjutant said and turned back to his witness. "Please continue Cabalite."

"Y-yes."

The fearful louza was back, her gaze somewhere at the adjutants feet.

"It was then that he.. Oh spirits I cant even bring myself to say it."

"Its ok Cabalite, its all in the report."

Max felt a sharp pain in his face and realized he was clenching his teeth so hard his head was shaking. He felt ill, enraged, dismayed, confused, shocked. The cacophony of emotions battled for dominance while he stared a hole through Jaa. He felt as though the floor had evaporated along with what little sense the world made just then. He could feel his stomach falling even though he sat white knuckled at the desk. His head sagged until his face was hidden by the crook of an elbow.

 _Breath. Control. In. Out. Calm._

It was same feeling of helplessness that had drove him to suicidal stunts back on earth. It was the same feeling when he had lost Sondoval during the Blitz.

 _Breath. Control. In. Out. Calm._

When he had lost Aubry.

 _Breath. Control. In. Out. Calm._

When his mother had passed

 _Breath. Control. In. Out. Calm._

Everyone in the room glanced about when the lights flickered briefly. Jaa hardly noticed, she was fixed on the human as he hid his face in shame.

A single curl of acrid smoke wept from the Omnipad on Max's table as he felt his body begin to tingle. A wave of nausea and icy rage washed over him. He retched at the floor, the gagging noise drawing the courts attention from the now more pronounced flickering of the lights.

Jaa was openly smiling as the human convulsed and made sick noises. That is up until the point that the Omnipad in front of him erupted into flames as its power cell overheated and ruptured. Meager tongues of flame struggled to seek purchase but fizzled out when the volatile contents of the pad were expended.

A few of the people seated behind Max coughed from the noxious fumes coming from the ruined device. Both the Executor and Adjutant where both looking about warily as the lights faded and the room was cast in total darkness. The crowd rumbled but no one dared to gut up or move for fear it was merely a passing glitch.

 _Oh god, it all makes sense now. Why Ree was acting so strange. All because of-_

"YOU!"

Jaa's smile disappeared as two intensely glowing green eyes fixed on her. Only the meager light from the Hierarchy crests remained. Their steady looping animation making only the outline of the standing human visible.

"Guards!"

Max was on the floor, writhing in agony as his control collar activated. He still managed to crawl forward. Reaching for Jaa.

The butt of a rifle ended his efforts, as well as the blackout. All eyes looked to the ceiling as the darkness was lifted. It wasn't long before a collective gasp came from the crowd as the bloodied but still form of the human just feet away from Jaa was noticed.

"Get him restrained!" The Executor said as he stood and pointed.

Jaa was on her feet too, her stance defensive as she glowed with biotic energy. A part of her was unnerved by the display, another part was disappointed he had been stopped. She, along with the others, gradually settled back into a state resembling order and calm.

 _It was ok. Things were ok. All was going well. If anything the Human had made it worse for himself._

Or that's what Jaa was thinking up until the point Sighra Bau emerged from the rear of the classroom. He was breathless as he jogged toward the Executors table. His hand was outstretched, waving about an object that sent a chill down Jaa's plates.

She felt panic well up inside of her as her mind raced. She glanced at Max, who was now being manhandled by three guards to get his now shackled frame back into his seat. His head lulled about like a drunkard as they dragged him.

"I Challenge him to Capitae en Mexta!" She exclaimed as Bau began stepping on stage.

"Halt that Spirit damned salarian Guard!" The Executor seethed. "I've had enough of the outbursts!"

He turned to Jaa, his hands falling to his sides. "Do you acknowledge the potential outcomes of this decision?" He said with a very intense vibrato to his sub vocals as Jaa became the center of attention.

"I do. Death. And forgive my lack of formality Executor, but this _human_ seems fairly intent on murder me anyway. I might as well fight back.."

"Very well. We will adjourn until tomorrow morning."

Bau's protest was silenced by a rough shove by a guard who then swatted the salarians flailing arm away from the stage. The object in his hand went flying off into the crowd, only to be trampled by the rush to exit the repurposed classroom.

Lost among all the noise and commotion was the sound of breaking glass as the empty vial of Collector Toxin Ver. 2.67 multispecies soluble was smashed. The vial was not as important as where it was found. The Salarian STG operative had no problems bypassing the lock on Jaa's room. And the a scan found trace amounts of the toxin on the sink as well as a closet door. It was inside that very closet that, aside from a worrying amount of medigel and painkillers, that he found his missing vial of toxin.

Jaa glared triumphantly at Max as the salarian frantically tried to reach where he thought the ruined evidence had gone.


	9. Chapter 9 Blue Union

"We lost a member. It hurts so much. I feel like a piece of myself has been stripped away. I can't even walk by her room anymore. Ree, Kantose, and I held each other in his room for hours. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them.

I reached out to Jorvan and we talked about it for a while. He knew as soon as he saw my face, he's experienced losing a fellow soldier as well.

It was great to have someone to relate to, especially family. But.. well I had heard from my parents -during one of the rare moments they seemed receptive to communication, -that he had ran off and got married to an Asari.

He's always been a troublemaker.

Well I saw her in the background during the vid call. When I prodded him about it we were introduced. She's nice enough. But with an Alien?

I wonder what Sol is doing. He seemed to understand my distaste of such things better."

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 5 May 2186**

"Why?"

Jaa shook her head dismissively as she removed another blade from a cybernetic leg cradled in her lap. She sharpened it with her Omni tool calmly running the blade against the glowing implement in one smooth motion.

"Because Denae, he tried to attack me. There was a whole room full of witnesses." She paused and looked up. "Oh but that's right, you were busy avoiding your problems back here."

"That has nothing to do with this. And why would he attack you?" Ree's lithe frame sat curled up in a padded chair. She watched Jaa with a blank stare over her knees from across the room. Jaa stopped what she was doing and shifted to face Ree directly.

"My love, my life, my mate. He attacked us. Had I known about all of this Cerberus business beforehand I would have reported him when he assaulted me in the bathroom!" She said with a pleading undertone to her sub vocals. "Why can't you accept that these humans are pure evil."

"You never said anything about that incident until after the drugging." Ree said distantly.

Jaa was clutching at the blade in her hand so hard she could feel it begin to cut her. The small rush was enough to elicit a few tears.

"IM SITTING RIGHT HERE. LOOK AT ME!" She cried and threw the artificial appendage off her lap. She angrily flipped off her other leg as well and crawled to Ree across the floor, the useless stubs of her legs trailing behind her. Ree started and began to stand but Jaa was already at her feet.

"They took so much away from ME! From US! Look at my fucking face!" Jaa wailed as she turned her chin to expose her mutilated mandible and cheek plate. "Why wont you love me?! Am I really that hideous?!"

Ree felt herself begin to fade as she became overwhelmed. She could feel a ball of panic forming in her cowl as the emotional strain became too much. She began sobbing, burying her face in her hands as Jaa tugged at her from the foot of the chair.

"Stop running away! You're doing it now! LOOK AT ME!"

Ree's hands gradually fell away from her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, making her already electric blue pupils seem bigger than normal. Tears streamed unbidden down her cheeks and into her mouth as her mouth parts hung open from her heavy breathing. Her eyes were dead.

"We can get through this. We WILL get through this. I will destroy that disgusting creature and it will be all better." Jaa said as she crawled up to the point that her head rested in Ree's lap

"You're bleeding"

A blue smear darkened Ree's slate grey uniform trousers from Jaa grabbing at her. A low growl came from Jaa before she explosively hopped up on Ree's lap and grabbed her by the cowl. She began to shake her violently as she screamed.

"You don't even care do you!? You're not even here. You've never BEEN here. It was always about someone else! WELL I FUCKING LOST KANTOSE TOO. But YOU. You were my first love! My first Everything! Do you know how long I had to live in shame and hide my abilities?! Since I was 5 FUCKING years old. Daddy used to fucking beat me when I did anything with my powers. Daddy. The fucking filthy mongrel. He was so busy fucking the Turz and trying to keep it a secret it felt like WE were a burden. His own fucking flesh and blood! He only ever came home to punish Jorvan, or Sol, or ME.

And YOU. After all these years I finally find someone who accepts me for who I am and they toss me aside for a fucking Pyjack!?" Jaa savagely grabbed Ree by the chin and jerked it up, exposing the scar that ringed her throat. "And where did THIS come from huh?! Tell me! Was it Kin?! NO. FUCKING NO RIGHT?!"

Ree's hands lay limply at her sides. She had no will to resist the onslaught, she didn't want to resist. She was right, everything she was saying was right. She deserved this. She deserved much worse.

"I'm sorry" She strained to say as Jaa's grip slid to her neck and tightened.

"You don't even know what those words mean." Jaa whispered as she drew close, her breath hot and laced with the scent of blood from her screaming. Ree's mandibles flexed submissively as she squeezed her eyes shut. Anything to make that accusing glare go away. The moment permeated the air, raw emotion seeped into every pore as the two sat in silence. Ree gradually raised her eyes to meet Jaa's and held her gaze.

"I've been so selfish. I just can't take it. I can't believe it. I just want it all to go away." Ree said as she blinked away the tears.

Jaa's expression softened.

"I'm right here. I've always been right here." She cooed softly and caressed Ree's cheek with her cut hand. The small smear of blood she left was barely discernible against her black plating. Ree hesitantly pressed into the touch.

Jaa sniffed at Ree's snout, tasting her tears before roughly nuzzling her neck. Ree obeyed and tilted her head exposing her throat to Jaa's waiting teeth.

Jaa instinctively moved to hook Ree's knees with her spurs but succeeded in only rubbing the ends of her useless legs against Ree before angrily growling and pressing harder against the onyx plated female. Jaa ceased nipping at her throat long enough to breath into Ree's ear

"I want to be with my mate before I do battle."

Ree merely nodded and began to undress. Jaa slid off her and removed her tunic and loose fitting trousers before grabbing Ree and pulling her to the floor. Her hand slid down her stomach, raking her clawed fingers down to where plating gave way to softer brown skin. Angry blue lines traced her fingers as Ree gave a small whine of both pleasure and pain. Jaa smiled and caressed the other females sex, slowly teasing her slit open with the pad of a finger until her petals emerged. The green tattooed turian tasted her finger as she gazed at Ree's slender form laid before her.

"You taste just how I remember." She whispered as Ree reached down half heartedly to Jaa's slit and found her already present, her petals energetically pulling at her touch. Jaa gave a small grunt of satisfaction before mounting Ree and slowly sliding their sexes together. She felt the warmth of her mate and could feel their petals flex against each other as Ree gave in and rocked her hips in tune with the brown plated females motions.

Soon she felt herself nearing the edge and slid a hand down to finish the deed. Jaa gave a warning moan and batted her hand away. She entered both herself and Ree with her own hand as they grinded against one another. With their movements in sync they pressed against each other but felt like it still wasn't close enough. Jaa found Ree's pearl deep in her sex and gave it a rough press as she massaged her own. She was met with a violent twitch and whimper from the other female as her senses were briefly overloaded.

The pained expression Ree gave made the other female smile before nuzzling her and licking the roof of her mouth. Her free hand supported herself but faltered as she felt the edge coming as well. When the moment came she gave a long high pitched whine as Ree shuddered violently from a mixture of pleasure and Jaa's somewhat careless placement of her talons. She could feel a white hot sear of pain from being cut inside and soon felt warmth running down her sex.

Ree's moment never came. Jaa merely sighed as the last throes of ecstasy passed and rolled off of her. She sat up and began to clean up, her attention completely elsewhere.

The blue tattooed Cabalite rolled onto her side and curled up, her life force weeping slowly from her sex as she felt herself go numb.

Max sat at the edge of his bed as he stared blankly at the wall. He wore nothing save for a pair of modest running shorts. Initially he had been instructed to strip down for what he thought was a check for hidden weapons but turned out to be a part of the trial. He had balked at the prospect and had managed to succeed in procuring said shorts.

A part of him reflected on the conversation and wondered if they allowed it only because of sense of pity. Another part of him openly mocked how utterly absurd it was to be even having the conversation in the first place.

But no matter where his mind wandered it always came back to why. Why had Jaa done this. What possible slight could he have made to have warranted this turn of events. The more he thought about it the more he realized there had been signs that something was not right with the female. First off Alarees never really talked about her. Secondly the way in which Jaa had looked at him, in hindsight, was positively predatory. He had learned enough of turian mannerisms to know when one was being discreetly aggressive or manipulative. He felt ashamed for having not noticed it sooner.

But in all of this, where was Ree? She had not come to the hearing. In fact he hadn't seen her since he had woken up in the hospital. Did she really despise him that much? Did she really believe he would do such a thing?

Shadows crept across the floor as the morning sun was blocked by the silhouettes of two armed guards walking past his kitchen window towards the front door. He was up ad walking towards it before they even knocked. When he pulled the door open it had clearly taken the two by surprise for one sentry briefly began to raise his rifle while the others eyes widened. His hand was raised, mid knock.

"I didn't order any food." Max said with a deadpan stare. He blinked away another visual episode as the guards turned into multi colored spectacles briefly.

Blank stares were cast about as the sentries looked to one another. Then to Max, then back to one another.

The human sighed and shook his head. "Lets go."

"Human, your have been summoned-"

"I GOT IT." Max seethed as he brushed past the guards and marched towards the stadium cum gladiatorial arena.

"Hey!" One of the guards exclaimed as they both scrambled to catch up. A one finger salute over the shoulder was the humans only reply as he kept marching.

Shath Vauls lumbering frame dwarfed Sighra to an almost comic degree. They both sat amongst the crowd of spectators filling the repurposed stadiums seats. Baus attempts at reaching the Prefect and Executor were met with stiff resistance. Even his messages had been deleted, unread. Bau couldn't help but feel guilty in all of this. He should have waited and collected more information before going to the Prefect. Now they regarded him as some sort of indecisive fool, too conflicted to be trusted.

"He'll be fine." Vaul grunted.

Bau craned his head to peer at the krogan.

"If he can knock my tooth out with a dinner tray just imagine what he can do with… Just what the hell is a Mexta anyway?"

Bau half heartedly shrugged.

"Bladed weapon. A one handed saber of some sort. A mix of meteoric iron and alloys believed to be imbued with the power of some Spirit. They date back to turian medieval times. They are only made on Palevan and each Battalion level commander and higher is required to have at least two such items on hand. Its a symbol of respect and power once you reach that level of authority since you have the power of life and death over your own troops."

"Huh."

Vaul went back to scanning the crowd for a long moment before turning to look at the salarian again.

"Do you think there will be a feast afterwards? We typically celebrate a battle with such a thing."

"I don't know Vaul. I am more concerned with the Gunnery Chiefs well being."

"He'll be fine." Vaul echoed with an eye roll and went back to people gazing.

He noted how the other krogan had formed "little" groups among the sea of mostly turian spectators. None of them had elected to sit near Vaul. He tried to think nothing of it, but a deep fear niggled at the back of his mind. He could just make out Alarees seated down on the ground level. Her slouched frame was utterly motionless.

The crowd grew silent as anticipation mounted when Prefect Ferkan and Executor Denioc entered the arena and strode to the center of the field where the turf had been removed in favor of a sandy pit roughly 50 meters wide. Bau could see where work crews had emplaced Omni barrier emitters around the pits periphery. The sun was beating down on them all to seemingly no effect. The odd seasonal shifts caused by the Digerian moons had made for a tepidly warm day. For most humans it would feel like the twilight of spring into summer.

Down in the pit the Prefect and his executive officer saluted and held it as the Hierarchy anthem began to play. Seated a few rows down from Bau and Vaul one of the very few humans on Digeris shook his head in disbelief. For Corporal Juan Dominguez this all felt like some sort of sporting event. He half expected to see a Mantis gunship fly over, complete with trails of gold and black smoke. Of all the people who knew Max he was the least invested. His flippant attitude had given way to a sense of vehement disbelief that this was actually happening. He thought to himself about how callous the Systems Alliance had been in this whole affair. If what he heard was to be believed another Exo instructor was already being sought after.

Dominguez slowly stood along with all the others as the music played.

"You know what. Fuck this." He said to no one in particular and sat back down. The turians standing behind him sneered at the humans backside but continued to salute and stand.

When the music stopped a wave of mottled plating sat back down. Ferkans voice boomed over the speaker system when all had settled back in their seats.

"We are gathered here to bear witness to Justice in the face of uncertainty. Through the willpower and skill of those involved they will prove themselves to be guilty or innocent. Upon the outcome of this battle absolute and full faith and confidence will be restored upon the victor. It is commanded of you all by rule of law. For those non-tiered beings out there, any and all retaliation for perceived wrongdoings against the victor will be met with the strictest penalties possible." Ferkan paused to let his words sink in. Seated on the ground level directly in front of him was Alarees. Her appearance was haggard as her shoulders stooped from the strain of what was to come. Ferkan took a small breath and wondered to himself if Menoit would ever forgive him for placing his daughter in such jeopardy. But it was all immaterial, he had a duty to fulfil.

"To the aggrieved and to the aggressor; Your fight is your own, and your convictions will hold only as much merit as your skill can convey. How you face each other is upon you. Your actions will speak for themselves. You may begin the moment the barrier comes on."

With a small nod towards his Executive officer they both strode off the field.

Max slowly walked onto the field, blade in hand. His scarred body was bare for all to see save for the small mercy granted to him by way of his shorts. His normally well kept black hair had grown unruly from the time spent in the hospital. His expression was somber, as if he were about to deliver some terrible news.

It's me. Here, right now. Im the bad news everyone seems to want to be rid of.

His gait was slow but determined. He felt as if every sense had been fine tuned and overcharged. The way the mildly warm breeze carried the scent of the surrounding forest. The feeling of the turf beneath his bare feet. The way the sand shifted around him as he finally stepped into the ring. He avoided looking up at the crowd, his eyes remained fixed on the hall that faced him from the field opposite.

The crowd drew silent as as Jaa'Quan emerged, head held high as she strutted out onto the field. Her Mexta lay across her shoulder as if she were taking a casual stroll with an umbrella. Her knee down synthetic legs glinted with polished steel and alloy. Her bladed toes cut neat lines into the turf. Max stared at her warily, his grip tightening on his own blade.

Ree looked up as Jaa passed and noticed that she wore nothing save for traditional foot wraps. They looked old and faded from years of use. Ree heaved a heavy sigh as she realized they were Kantose's wraps. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched Jaa's tiny frame enter the ring and stop. She couldn't bear to look at Max directly. The conflicting emotions forbade it as she just barely managed to remain lucid.

There was a long pause where everything seemed frozen in time. Max's bulky frame posed defensively, blade raised to block an attack. Jaa with a hand on a hip while the other loosely gripped her sword slung over her shoulder. A gust of wind broke the spell and the Omni Barrier snapped on, casting the two in orange.

The two combatants regarded each other silently before Jaa moved suddenly, swinging her Mexta off her shoulder with a flourish before sticking it in the ground and rolling her shoulders. Max was on the alert the moment she began to move. He raised his blade defensively and stepped to the side, fearing an immediate strike.

Vaul glared at a group of krogan that sniggered from the humans flighty response.

"You know, all that collusion with Cerberus stuff was just a bonus. I had wanted this from the start. To look into your eyes as your life fades away and present your decapitated head to Ree.

But I figured I would give the Executor a chance. It would have been nice to have killed you without raising a talon. But I do have to say, killing one of your kind myself is so much more satisfying" Jaa said with an almost bored tone to her subvocals as she stretched.

Max dipped his blade fractionally, eyeing Jaa's as she moved away from it while she making a show of warming up.

"You're a monster." Max grunted and dipped his blade further.

"Your kind made me this way." She shrugged and crossed her arms.

Max found himself truly looking at Jaa, as if with new eyes. Her scared face and mandible took on a sickly brownish green hue in the light while her otherwise pristine plating glinted a dark metal flake brown. Her green tattoos seemed to glitter as the sun drew to high noon.

"I don't want to do this. I did nothing too you, and you know it."

"Oh but I do want to do this. And your kind has done plenty."

Max glanced at the forgotten Mexta growing increasingly out of reach of Jaa.

 _Maybe if I can disarm her we can end this before it goes too far._

He saw an opportunity and took it, lunging for the Mexta with his free hand while his own blade swung wide to ward off Jaa. The blade disappeared in a blur of biotic energy just as he was about to grasp it. He landed face first in the sand.

The grit clung to him and made him spit as it covered him.

A shriek that seemed to come from him filled the silent arena as the blade reappeared, this time through his hand in much the same spot it had been. The agony that shot through his hand an arm was briefly surpassed by the feeling of being torn in half as Jaa cast a Reave at Max's prone form.

Ree was on her feet, but they felt like they were encased in lead.

"You really are as stupid as you look." Jaa taunted and debated kicking him in the stomach. She wasn't too sure if driving her bladed toes into that part of his body would kill him too quickly, so she elected to rake his thigh with them first. This elicited another scream of pain as the molecules thick blades gouged him cleanly to the bone.

Max fought back the dark circles closing in on his vision as his body shook violently.

"Oh god oh god oh god, you're killing me." he screamed hoarsely.

Jaa giggled and paced around the human.

"Oh wow, you've figured it out!"

Bau was shaking his head slowly, the inevitability of what was to come making every moment agonizing. Vaul looked on with an intensity that would make the most fearless krogan warrior wither under the glare, his grip on the seat in front of him made the plastic crackle. The crowd sat frozen, utter silence making for an eerie spectacle as over 500 pairs of eyes were transfixed on the arena below.

Ree watched with a increasing sense of being elsewhere. Her eyes witnessed what was happening but her mind refused to accept it. She blinked slowly and began to waver as Jaa retrieved her Mexta from Max's hand and grabbed him by the hair, standing over him and leaning close. Her mouth parts moved but nothing could be heard aside from Max's screams.

"Take one last look at my mate." Jaa said as she jerked his head towards Ree. He tried to blink away the sand and tears but his mind screamed the white noise of pain as he felt himself begin to slip. A coldness spread with every heartbeat from his leg as the sand around him darkened with his life force.

She shoved his face back into the sand as he babbled incoherently. "Ree oh god Ree I didn't do this. Oh god"

"And now.." Jaa smiled as she drove her Mexta into Max's shoulder and used it to pry the human onto his back before kicking him the rest of the way and pulling her blade from him. She slid on top of him, straddling his stomach as she brought the Mexta to his throat and began slowly cutting into him. She pressed into his sides with her knees for more leverage, anticipating the frenzied dash to take his head. "Watch me fucking destroy everything you've ever loved."

She was met with a gurgle as his windpipe was punctured. Her amber eyes glowed fondly as she watched his face twitch and spasm as each slice brought her closer to his death. She smelled the coppery tang of his life force and paused to sigh contently.

The acrid tang of burning plastic soured the scent and she shifted as the stumps of her legs felt uncomfortably hot in their sockets. Her whole body jerked as one leg began to spasm, its control motor firing out of tune with her nervous system. Her grip on the mexta slackened as she leaned back to peer at the glinting steel and alloy appendages.

They suddenly felt heavy as their mass effect fields faltered. Smoke began pouring from the control circuitry concealed behind her sharpened alloy spurs. She felt herself falling as Max heaved and bucked her off of him. Her head whipped back into the not so soft sand and dazed her. The human exo-heavy operator moaned as he rolled over his ruined shoulder and on to his stomach. The sound came out as a sickly wet gurgle as he tried to breathe but choked on his own blood.

Every second felt like an eternity as he felt his pulse slow and his movements slow. This time he was thankful for the delayed reaction to his body not quite working at the same speed as his mind. Another cough began and he could feel the upwelling of pressure as he ponderously sought out his own blade. Its hilt glinted in the sun a few feet away and he moved towards, it dragging his useless leg behind him as he clawed his way towards it.

 _Survive, at all costs._

 _Survive, at all costs._

 _Survive, at all costs._

The booming voice in his head was his but it felt strange. Like a presence in his mind looking down at him from a vantage point outside of it. His fingers gripped the hilt in time to feel sharp talons dig into his foot and pull at him. Ever so slowly he rolled on to his back and swung wildly down at where the most recent explosion of pain came from. He was met with a sharp vibration in the hlit of his blade as the swipe found its mark. Jaa snarled as the Mexta embedded in her cowl and stuck. Max kicked free of her grip and cupped his throat to take another breath as his body burned for oxygen. He was partially successful and felt more air then blood enter his lungs as he took a greedy breath. With his good arm he held on to the mexta and tried to shake it free. He glimpsed Jaa reaching out for her own blade, her hand glowing with biotic energy as she tried to project a Pull field.

Max kicked at her face with his bloodied foot and landed a few blows on her fringe. She snapped at him with razor sharp teeth after the third or so blow and he withdrew the appendage in favor of jerking the mexta embedded in her cowl as hard as he could. Her torso bounced about as she tried reaching for his hand. She issued a pained hiss and tried for her blade again.

Max felt himself pull free from her cowl and swung the mexta again, this time smacking her in the side of the head with the flat part of the blade. She went limp briefly as the blow dazed her but began dragging herself away from the human. Her prosthetics sparked and sizzled as their power cells overheated and began to build up pressure.

The human managed to sit up and swung at her retreating from, managing to damage her legs further. He began crawling after her on his one good knee and hand, cradling the mexta with his injured arm as he did so. She pressed against the omni barrier and used it to leverage herself up into a sitting position. She frantically uncoupled her useless appendages and made a dash for her mexta. She howled as Max cleaved into her elbow with the blade, nearly taking her limb off. Blue blood added to the now sticky and caked sand as the wound bled profusely.

She fell on to her stomach and weakly reached for the blade, mere inches from her grasp. Using the hilt of his blade Max smashed the back of her head, driving her face into the sand. She weakly raised a hand and was met with another blow to the back of the head. Max took another pained breath with his hand covering the horrendous wound on his throat and hacked and coughed up what he did not want to breathe.

Jaa was limp, but Max didn't take any chances. He crawled around her and procured her blade, which he tossed far away before poking her with the tip of his own blade to her throat.

"Hive hup" He gurgled before having another coughing fit. He felt a deep chill encroaching upon every cell of his body as his leg wound continued to bleed freely.

Jaa shook as she laughed weakly.

"This is to the death human. Do it. Either way, I still win. You've killed her Mate. Suffer alone you piece of shit."

"Hii hever hanted hany off hiss. Hii hont hant to hill you."

"Then fucking kill yourself. Only one of us is leaving here alive."

Max looked up and through the omni barrier to see a crowd of people struggling to lift a familiar form from the floor. She was slack as she dangled limply in the arms of Shath Vaul. Max wavered, the tip of his blade lowering fractionally. He looked down in time to see a glowing fist punch out towards his midsection. The Push was weak but strong enough to knock Max back out of striking range. Jaa made another attempt at chasing after her blade but couldn't find it in the sand. She changed track and made for her legs, intent on removing a bladed toe to use as a knife. She grabbed the ankle of the prosthetic and briefly regretted soiling the wraps of Kantose as she hastily tried to remove the 6 inch long blade that served as a toe.

Max was flat on his back, stunned and feeling the last dregs of his life force leave him as his pulse grew weaker and weaker. His blade lay several feet away as he stilled.

Jaa sneered as she struggled one handed to remove the blade. Her grip was slick with both his and her blood. She fought to suppress this realization and succeeded in choking off a retch as she frantically tried to grip the catch and pull the blade with one hand. She snarled angrily and braced the object between her stumps and tried from a different angle. She could see Max stir, if only to try and keep his airway clear and hastened her efforts. The overloaded circuits made the object white hot, which added to the difficulty of her task.

She managed to free the item and smiled wickedly as she looked up at Max.

The crowd flinched in unison as the small female turians form was briefly engulfed in white light as the power cell in the leg exploded.


	10. Chapter 10 Time and Space

_"We have another mission coming up. I'm so nervous, and Ree seems so distant now. She spends more time with Kantose now. I feel sick sometimes thinking about it. I just have this feeling sometimes like something is wrong._

 _It doesn't help that I found out about Jorvan having a child with that Asari. Mother and Father will disown him for sure now."_

 **Hospital Ward** **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 5 May 2186**

"I'm sorry sir, we cant remove it. The chances of causing another brain hemorrhage is too high. I can, however, utilize the nerve grafting techniques Dr. Bau used on the human and attempt to work around the object. My plan is to fix what I can and let the synthetic nerves form new pathways before cauterizing the tissue and shaving the shrapnel back so it does not protrude too much.

...No sir, I do not recommend attempting to wake her. She's in a coma regardless, we will see if we can elevate her level of consciousness after the grafting and letting some time pass to heal. Yes. Understood sir." The turian doctor nodded solemnly and ended the call before turning to his surgical team.

"Get the protein tanks prepped. Were doing it."

 **Somewhere in the Digerian wilderness 22 June 2186**

A lone human figure leaned against a shabby looking log cabin. Its walls were constructed by felled trees from the surrounding area. Their stumps poked out of the nettle carpeted forest floor like a frozen crowd. He scratched at his beard, wondering if maybe he should cut them down further. They would serve as decent cover for an approaching enemy. They also blocked his fields of fire.

The distant whine of a eezo boosted turbine engine broke his train of thought and made him cast a wary eye skywards. He drained the last dregs of his coffee and carefully placed his mug on to a rough cut log table set just outside of his front door.

"C'mon Max, delivery is here." He said as he smiled ruefully.

It wasn't talking to yourself if your partner just so happened to also be named Max and was a disarmed exoskeleton.

The sound of whirring motors and servos echoed from inside the cabin as the battle frame unfolded and stepped gingerly outside into the brisk mountain air. One of its arms clumsily bumped into the door frame, which shook the entire roughshod structure.

"Calm down boy, none of it is for you. Although some lubricant and a good scrubbing wouldn't hurt. Perhaps next week?" The frame silently regarded him, its sensor cluster blinking slowly from where human head would usually be.

"How's about you open up so we can go get this thing?"

The frame obediently opened, its limbs and torso splaying wide to accept his body. He stepped up into the leg braces and turned around, cinching down the makeshift straps and padding that took the place of his heavy armor that would usually fill the frame and lock into place like a glove. The Tingle Sense as he began to call it registered as his neck grazed the contact points where his suit would usually interface with the frame. He grunted in annoyance before slowing his breathing and feeling out the machine. The itches and pokes turned into motors and control clusters. An abrasive feeling here meant that a servo was out of tune. A sharp cold spot there meant a sensor cluster was failing. He felt himself become an extension of the machine, and the machine an extension of him.

"Ok, lets go."

He started off at a slow walk, feeling more and more in tune with the frames circuits and controls. By the time he was jogging he had ceased using the manual control nubs built into the arms of the frame. By the time he was sprinting and jumping from ridge to ridge he didn't even register he was wearing an exoskeleton. He grew more bold, his frame boosted agility sending him sailing almost to the forest canopy with each leap.

He spotted a clearing and jumped up into a nearby tree, upsetting a family of avian analogs before jumping to another. Gone were his weapon blisters and mounts. What replaced them were crudely fashioned armatures for gripping, cutting and hauling. The hook of a cabled winch flopped around crazily from the small of his back as he used his "hands" to grip tree trunks and branches.

Another leap and he was sailing for the clearing, the whine overhead briefly surpassed by his whoop of exhilaration. The landing wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. He and the frame tumbled after landing off balance and came to a tumultuous stop in the in the middle of the clearing. He chuckled as he stood and surveyed the deep furrow his tumbling frame had left in the tall wild grass.

"Ok buddy, we gotta take a look at that gyroscope when we get back. I think you're a little off." He said to the frame as he tested his range of motion for damage. Another cold spot emerged, this time on his shoulder. He looked over and sighed when he spotted a cracked sensor lens.

"Oh gow-dammit." He said and looked up as the cargo transport emerged from over a ridge.

Its stubby wings and boxy body drifted aimlessly until he activated his beacon and waved a piston and alloy sheathed arm at the craft. The transport nimbly turned towards him and began to drop. He stopped waving and began to prepare.

"Ok, we can do this, lets catch it this time." he said as he amped himself up.

The Transport began to bank, its side door opening. He could see people standing in the doorway, holding on to overhead rails as they watched. Four this time. It seems like his supply drops were attracting spectating passengers. He felt it was time to change locations and carriers again.

A silver cube slipped over the side of the transport and began to tumble down towards him as the craft made a steep bank briefly.

"Jump early, catch it on the down turn, jump early, jump… Now"

His arms swung as he crouched low before driving his legs down as hard as he could. He doubted his human muscles could do to add much to the exos abilities, but it was the thought that counts right?

His aim was true, but his timing was off, the cube slipped passed him as he was still sailing up. He grimaced and flailed after it as he began to fall, but to no avail. He hit his thrusters and braked hard before leaving a bigger dent in the ground than the now mostly buried cube.

"Well, better luck next time." Her said glumly and crouched to haul the cargo cube out of the ground. The transport banked away slowly, the familiar flashes of omni cams peppering its flanks as the spectators took their parting shots.

The trip back to the cabin took a meandering route, up and down valleys and along streams as he and his cargo strolled along at a leisurely pace. When he reached his cabin he circled around it, checking for disturbances on the ground as he went. Satisfied that he was not followed the unhooked the cube from the back of his frame and had it carry it to the log table.

"Hey Max, go ahead and store your self inside. Do a self diagnostic and gyro calibration before powering off though." He said as he popped the seal to the cube and began rummaging around inside of it.

The frame gave a low beep and slowly walked inside.

"Amino ration, amino ration, amino ration… Oh!"

He excitedly pulled a small wooden box from the pile of plastic food packs and opened it to reveal a neat row of fat brown paper cylinders. He pulled one out and smelled along its length, its earthy aroma and floral notes making him smile in anticipation. He put the lid back on the cube and slid it closer to the table, its function now being that of a stool as he flicked on his Omni Tool and projected a small flame.

Biting the tip off a rounded end he puffed on the cigar until the other side glowed cherry red. The smell was sharp but carried a musty tinge of aged wood and bourbon. He took a long drag and proceeded to cough violently. His face turned green as he felt ill immediately. He began spitting as his mouth watered and tasted of dirt and leaves.

"Oh god, people some people think this is a way to relax?!" he gagged and rubbed his scarred throat.

"You're not supposed to inhale the smoke. You taste the flavor of the smoke and puff it back out."

Max was on his feet and diving over the log table in a split second, which seemed to drag out as he felt The Lead kick in. He managed to plot out which direction he was going to roll towards, how many steps it would take to reach the Avenger Assault rifle hidden in a nearby tree stump and how long it would take to turn and fire in the time it took him to clear the table and begin to land.

Judging by the location of the voice it had come from the doorway to his cabin. If he had a weapon already drawn then he would fire a shot about three steps into his six step dash for his rifle. He would have to change direction briefly to throw off his aim. He was know rolling and coming up on to his knees as he thought about something.

But if he had a weapon drawn, why wouldn't he have shot already? Is it another "Human watcher" tourist? There where no tracks though, they had to have snuck in.

 _Turn and look? Yea lets turn and look._

He halted his forward momentum by grabbing a nearby stump and swinging behind it for cover. He felt his sense return to normal as the rush ended and peeked around the side of the stump.

Juan Dominguez stood in the doorway, his expression a mixture of concern and amusement.

"I'm of Dominican descent. Cigars are kinda part of my heritage." He said as he took a step outside.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Max growled.

"The JSC class graduated. Curriculum was cut short because three of its instructors are gone."

"You know what I mean." Max replied as he hefted himself up to his feet and dusted himself off.

His synthetic cloth brown work pants and dark blue fleece lined long sleeve shirt where already soiled and worn looking, making the effort futile.

"The Alliance figured you'd be more receptive to a human face." Juan shrugged. "I told them they were stupid to think any face would be welcome, but orders are orders."

"Receptive to what?! They dismissed my contract and took all my entitlements save for basic living income."

"Yea, this is pretty basic." Juan said and nudged a log step with a booted foot. "Look. They want to make up to you after what happened. They said if you came back they would ship you off right away to a posting of your choice."

"I'm exactly where I want to be."

"Well. There's one more thing. They want the frame back. They have the rest of the weapons and kit inventoried and packed, ready to be shipped back, they just want the bit that everything attaches to back."

"They're not getting Max. Tell them to go fuck themselves."

Juans brow furrowed as he wondered if they were even talking about the same thing.

"Look. I know you disabled the remote functions, but they can still carpet scan from orbit, and if your frame is the only bit of technology amongst a vast wilderness, it makes spotting you pretty damn easy."

Max shook his head and went back to the silver cube stamping out the cigar before popping its lid off and rummaging for a ration pack.

"Come and get it. Fuck 'em. It would only be fitting for them to kill me trying to get the frame rather than letting some foreign power enact some sort of primitive killing ritual." He said as he sat with his back to Juan and tore into the packet.

"Yea… I did some research on that. That hasn't been done in nearly thirty years. I guess the majority of the time they just fess up or remove their tattoos and move to Omega."

It was out in the open, but still wasn't being talked about directly. Max tuned out Juan and he emptied a squeeze tube of mashed peas and sipped at a water packet. Juan watched in silence for a long moment before sighing and shaking his head.

"Why are you still here?" Max said around a mouth full of food.

"She's still here. Out in Trafalgar Inpatient care hospital. She still hasn't moved or talked to anyone si-"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Max roared as he stood and turned, hurling the packet at the Alliance Corporal.

He raised a hand defensively but the packet still hit him in the stomach. Juan pursed his lips and looked down at his now soiled Systems Alliance tunic and clenched his fists. He took a deep breath before his temper got the better of him and stepped off the primitive staircase.

"You forgot to cover your own tracks while leaving." He said tersely as he marched off into the woods.

Max watched him go, tracking the soldiers movements until the dense vegetation swallowed him up. A few moments later the distinctive whine of a Kodiak shuttle could be heard as it lifted off and streaked into the greenish blue sky of Digeris.

Later that night Max sat on a tree stump and watched as his cabin burned to the ground. He had packed what he needed back into the cube and left the rest to burn. His power frame stood by him, mutely scanning the area as it awaited instructions. Thick plumes of black smoke roiled from the intense fire while long tongues of flame hungrily engulfed the hovel.

He sipped at a water packet, absently running his tongue along the rough edge of the packet while he did so. Max couldn't focus on any one thought. Instead a myriad of images, memories, and emotions roiled in tune with the flames. He smiled as a memory lingered; It was the last birthday he had shared with his deceased wife Aubry. She had died her hair a vibrant shade of green and had regretted it immediately.

"I just wanted to try something different!" She admonished when Max had seen it for the first time.

She had shyly slid into their living room, her hair hidden under a wool beany. When she had let it spill out as she pulled the hat away Max had been at a complete loss for words.

"Well!?" She said uncertainly as the silence grew unbearable. She was already flushing a deep shade of scarlet.

"Aww, babe, I didn't know you loved tomatoes that much." He teased.

"Ahmygodshaddumshaddup" She said as she grew flustered and pounced on him as he sat in an overstuffed chair. She had playfully pounded on his chest until he tickled back.

The sound of a snapping twig halted the memory and Max sat up, suddenly alert to his surroundings. He cast a sidelong glance at the frame and noted none of its indicators signaled any activity aside from wild life.

He brushed the memory aside and skimmed through a few others before he kept coming back to the feeling of warmth and hardness pressing against him in a small bunk bed on a solitary frigate on its way to Digeris.

He flashed forward to the night out on The Citadel. How she had used her biotics against the C-Sec officer hassling them. The look and sound she had given when his father had left dinner table. How her eyes glittered with the intensity and focus of someone. A being. Alien but familiar, intelligent, emotive and right in front of him. He could feel the butterflies in his stomach as he watched himself take her hand in his for the first time. Max smiled distantly as he moved on to the next memory. The way Alarees slack features jostled with each step as he carried her in his arms back to their dorm rooms. He paused on the moment he looked down at her and watched the way mandibles twitched lazily as her mouth hung open.

The crackle of flames pulled him from his reverie and he sighed as the familiar ache of loss crept back into his heart.

"This is good. I need to be here." Max remarked to the frame as if talking to an old friend. "I should have learned my lesson the first time. But nope. Here we are. Just you, me, and a vast wilderness.

He nudged the frame with his elbow. "I tell you what, when we set up our next spot I'll take the time to clean all your servos." The frame teetered from the nudge and wobbled to correct. A warning chime sounded as it signaled its internal guidance had failed before toppling over and spasm neurotically.

"Or I could just go fuck myself." Max muttered despondently.

"To be honest, and I know this will be the source of no small amount of mirth on your part, we need you."

Vaul's pebbly lips curled in a smirk.

"You weren't kidding. I never thought I would live to see the day a turian asked for a krogans help. Is this gonna play out like the Rachni wars? When you've gotten what you needed you're just gonna neuter us further?"

Major Denioc shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"This isn't for me, or my kind. You will be the krogan representative for all future students. They will essentially come to you for all their issues as well as rely on you to coordinate their training with the other department heads."

Vaul grunted and shifted his considerable weight from one foot to the other.

"But why me? There were plenty of other krogan who graduated along side me."

Denioc leaned back in his chair and waved a hand at Vaul.

"Because you were the only one out of all of them who showed any aptitude to actually work with the other races. Sure, they passed tests and did what was asked of them, but no one tried to go beyond that. It shows a level of leadership and maturity far above what one might call your peers."

Vaul nodded and felt trepidation and excitement welling up inside him. It was an appealing prospect, and truth be told he did enjoy the change of life. Hell, he was long lived, and he didn't have anywhere else to be. They provided all sorts of fun toys and decent food for him and the others. He could go out in town and get into bar fights if he wasn't too rough. And he could explore some personal aspects as well.

"One condition. I want my own room. -Two actually, I still get to participate in the training."

Denioc smiled, his mandibles splaying briefly. "Done and done." He was going to say more, but the krogan had already began to turn around and lumber off. He knew enough about krogan to know it wouldn't be worth the effort to continue.

"Just let me know when the next groups coming and I'll be there to receive them." Vaul rumbled over his shoulder as he left the Prefects office.

Ruhe vas Konesh switched connections as she sat precariously on the hood of a old M88 ground transport. Her readout showed green and she gave a thumbs up to Reeve sitting in the cab. The vehicle clicked and shook as it tried to start but only succeeded and emitting a hiss as the still not firing engine ejected its hydrogen fuel charge.

"I don't get it. It has power. It has fuel. Why isn't this damn thing starting!" Reeve grumbled as he popped the hatch and stood up on the driver seat. "Ok, lets try the injectors again." He said to the quarian as she closed up on access port and carefully stood.

"Injectors have already been calibrated and are operating at 95% efficiency." Ruhe said in her whispery monotone voice.

"Well crap. I don't know what else to do." Reeve said as frustration edged into his voice.

Ruhe stared silently at the human, barely blinking as she replayed all they had done to try and fix the old APC. "We didn't reengage the safety lockouts of the ignition system after we reinstalled the injectors." She whispered.

Reeve dipped his chin as she talked, straining to hear her faint voice. He caught "Safety lockouts" and groaned.

"Oh my GOD I'm an idiot." He said and scrambled out of the hatch.

His lanky frame expertly navigated across the top of the carrier to its engine compartment. He opened an access panel and reached inside, feeling blindly until his hands touched the correct toggles. He hurriedly closed the panel and jumped back in the cockpit.

Ruhe closed her eyes and sat down on the hood, feeling another headache coming. Too many repetitive tasks with similar over lapping memories could bring a skull crusher of a migraine. She blanked out her mind and thought of the blackness of space.

The M88 rumbled to life beneath her and she reached out to steady herself. She could hear Reeve give a small whoop of victory before he revved the engine a few times. He popped out of the hatch after letting the engine idle for a bit and then turned it off.

"Mano I tell you what; A Mako would freakin tell you something was wrong, but these old M88's sure do run strong. Alright, I think we're good for the day. You wanna help with that old Orbital Launch System tomorrow? I know the staff here said its pointless and old, but I think its neat people used to launch things into space that way."

Ruhe simply nodded.

"Ok, cool, I'll see you tomorrow." Reeve said with a grin before scrambling down from the APC and strolling into the back of the Mech bay. He slid out of the upper part of his dirty coveralls and tied the sleeves around his waist. Gone were his scars and bruises that lined his wrists and forearms. He walked with a measure of something resembling confidence. Out of habit moved to brush his mop of dirty blond hair away from his eyes and forgot that it was gone. Instead he rubbed his shaved scalp and set about tossing off his work boots before flopping on to a narrow cot padded with insulation foam for added comfort.

He slipped on a set of holographic goggles and booted up a game from an Omni Pad. A pop up in his goggles signaled he had a message. He paused the game and slipped his goggles on to his brow before grabbing the tablet and opening it.

I need your help with the frame. The internal guidance is shot and the gyroscope it out of whack. Could you head out to these coords and take a look at it. -MB

"Oh man." Reeve said to no one in particular as he sat bolt upright.

Initially, he had hated Max with every fiber of his being. He had practically killed his Master.

 _No. No more. Not anymore. I am Harrison Reeve and I am proud of who I am and what I can accomplish._ He recited as he felt his mind teeter towards old thoughts.

After the Tribunal he had had a complete breakdown. Ruhe had found him in the Bay among a scattered pile of used medigel injectors and surgical tools. He vaguely remembered the attempted overdose as well as the quarian calling for help as she deftly set about staunching the flow of blood and applying pressure to his self inflicted wounds.

After that he had been made to see a counselor, and still did so regularly. In the roughly two months following "The Incident" as he and his counselor had taken to calling it, Reeve had seen a drastic transformation in both himself and how he viewed his life. He had seen Max only a few times after the Tribunal, each time in varying degrees of rehabilitation.

After only a week and a half the Gunnery Chief had left, taking the Exo with him.

He remembered how much relief he felt when they grafted new skin on to his arms and legs. The scars had served as a constant reminder of what he had been and who he had belonged to. He still couldn't bring himself to say her name or acknowledge what she had done, but he was working on it and getting better.

He remembered the day Max had left, his still bore bright pink scars from the initial graft and sealing of his horrible wounds. He had come to visit the lone survivor of Horizon as he lay in the recovery ward following his own first session of skin grafts. Seeing Max's scars were enough conviction of what the counselor had said during their first few sessions;

She had been pure evil.

Ruhe had proven to be the perfect companion through all of this. Her calm presence and precise articulation serving to ground Reeves occasional emotional swings. The quarian felt a little more at ease around the human, his voracious appetite to take things apart and fix them appealing to some of her base quarian instincts. His main appeal was that he kept his distance and hadn't tried to change the status quo between them. He didn't prod or dig or accuse or hassle the small quarian female. They worked, fixed things and went their separate ways when it was done.

"Hey!" Reeve exclaimed as he hastily slid back into his coveralls while he ran back into the Mech bay. Ruhe stopped and turned her foot practically out the door.

"I gotta a turbo secret mission if ya wanna hop in. The Gunnery Chief is stranded out in the woods with a busted Exo. C'mon, ill warm up the skimmer." He added as he jogged to a work bench and began piling tools into a rucksack.

"No. Unless I drive." Ruhe said a small smile in her voice.

"Ugh, you make it soo boring." Reeve moaned. "Ok, sure. But I get to drive back. And no I will not do the falling thing again."

"Ok."


	11. Chapter 11 Pit Stop

_"What did I do? What fucking Spirit did I offend? Kantose is dead. Ree visited after the mission. It was too much. But I see now. I understand. How does Sol even deal with this? If he's even fucking alive. I feel dead to the world, left behind like some Varren eyed child._

 _Mother and Father supposedly came to visit but I was still in an induced coma._

 _And they fucking left before I woke."_

 **Orbital Transfer Station, Palaven 20 June 2186**

Sighra Bau stood amongst his own thoughts as the sprawling vista of Palaven rotated slowly below the station. Its usually cloud swept face was mostly clear allowing for him and the other transients to make out the urban centers and oceans of the turian home world. A small turian child just barely out of cowling age clung to the leg of its parent as they both stood transfixed on the site beside the salarian STG operative.

A glint caught Baus eye and they all watched as a transport streaked out of the thin gauzy bubble of atmosphere and into the blackness of space before disappearing in flash of FTL energy. Bau glanced over at the turian family and nodded to the male as he scooped up his child and delicately slid him back into his cowl after the child had made a small whine of distress.

Surrogate father. No sign of hormonally induced plate growth from parentage. Markings denote spacer origins with some ties to Parthia colony. He observed casually as the male and child left for a loading gate.

"Dr. Bau I presume?"

Bau turned from the crowd the turian male and child had disappeared into to face the voice. He guessed asari based on the breathy overtones. He was greeted with the deep purplish blue of a commando in full kit standing an arms length away.

"Ah yes. The council's point of contact I presume. They didn't say who it was going to be exactly."

Her full lips curled into a thin smile.

"Specter Tela Vasir. Jondum Bau sends his regards. If you would follow me?" She said as she motioned to the lifts.

"Of course, and thank you."

Bau trailed behind the asari specter a respectable distance, his large eyes flitting over her gear as they walked. Her armor bore the marks of several intense conflicts however her weapons were pristine. Bau figured she either relied heavily on her biotics, as most asari do, or her Specter funding allowed for some discretionary spending when it came to armaments.

They huddled into a lift along with a few other passengers and ascended to their target level in silence. It wasn't until they had passed through a few security doors that she spoke up finally.

"I don't know to what extent the council informed you about the matter at hand, but the sooner we get things moving the sooner I can get back to doing Specter work." She said with a small measure of disdain as she scanned her palm at a wall terminal.

She opened the door and motioned Bau inside almost theatrically.

"Understood, however I do regret to inform you I am also in the dark about what it is they need."

Vasir merely snorted in disgust as she followed Bau inside and strode to another terminal. "Figures." She muttered as she powered up the QEC terminal.

The Specter joined the salarian in the view box of the QEC terminal and crossed her arms impatiently as three ghostly images shimmered into focus. Bau nodded to the Dalatrass when her image turned to him.

"Greetings Dalatrass, I trust this day finds you well?"

"Yes. Thank you."

An awkward pause followed as the asari councilor and Vasir merely nodded to one another while the turian councilor looked on with a blank expression.

"Very well, yes, the reason we've assembled." The asari councilor prompted as she looked expectantly at the Dalatrass. The salarian councilors hooded face was inscrutable as she cast a sidelong glance at the other two before speaking.

"Yes. The STG high command forwarded me a report. Your report. Specifically on the techniques and technology utilized to heal the Systems Alliance human. It came to my attention because a recent intel report lead to the capture of a Cerberus operative who was also implanted with the same technology."

Bau cast a wary glance at the turian councilor before replying.

"Yes, the synthetic nerves were grown and spliced based off of captured geth technology recovered from the citadel. However my databases do not match known geth systems and organic circuits."

"We understand the implication Doctor, how ever that topic is still up for debate. What does seem likely is that Cerberus may have been the source of the technology to begin with. We are pursuing leads in that regard as it implies a troubling alliance if the human terrorist faction is working with the geth." The asari councilor said with a glance to the turian councilor.

"Doctor, your report states that you have only used this technology once. Is that still true?" The Dalatrass added.

"Yes Ma'am. That I have used. However there is an injured Cabalist whom I believe received a version of it as well. That was done without my knowledge or permission. I have since wiped the data from non secure sources to not allow it to happen again."

"Vasir." The turian councilor finally grumbled despite the shade being cast in his direction. "We need you to track down this Cabalist and collect any data you can on her condition as well as any ties you can find between Cerberus and the Geth. That intel report that lead to the agents capture came via the Shadow Brokers representative on Omega. I would start with the Cabalist and pursue the Brokers point of contact last."

The asari Specter perked up at the mention of the Shadow broker and nodded with small measure of enthusiasm.

"Why not use the data I have gathered on the human Maximillian Barrett? I am assuming this captured agent is human as well? It would be useful to compare and contrast their data." Bau asked as he looked to each counselor in turn.

"This is a sensitive matter doctor, but what I can tell you is that the captured agents implants were localized to the brain, as would this turian cabalists implants. There were distinct… abnormalities with the agents behavior and abilities." The asari counselor replied with an appeasing wave of the hand.

"-However. We still want you to monitor this human. Closely. Report any changes to his baseline. Otherwise you are under Council orders to not make any further mention of the human or his implants unless it is via a direct QEC link to us." The turian councilor added stiffly.

"But my term is over at the JSC compound?" Bau said with a surprised blink at the turian.

"You'll be reinstated and given clearance for QEC access. It will be taken care of by the time you're back."

Bau mulled over what constituted a "change in the baseline" after all that had happened to Max as he made his way back to the docking bays.

 **Somewhere in the Digerian wilderness 22 June 2186**

Reeve peered over the side of the open top skimmer as Ruhe sat motionless beside him. There were times Reeve could have sworn he was sitting next to a statue along the way, but the occasional yaw or pitch adjustment put those fears aside. When they neared the coordinate Max had provided Reeve pointed out a thin column of smoke rising from the canopy far below. Both the Digerian moons were in full view, casting the dense treetops in a silver light. Reeve tightened the collar of his loose fitting Alliance Technicians jacket against the cold as Ruhe nodded and began descending in a slow corkscrew to the smoke below.

"I don't get why he hasn't made contact yet." Reeve wondered aloud into his headset as the canopy went from being a carpet of ghostly green to a patchwork of treetops with blotches of blackness below. The wiry young human technician could make out the dull glow of smoldering ruins as they drew level a few hundred feet above the forrest and made tighter circles.

"Because I was waiting on you to break radio silence and give yourself away." Came a gravelly voice over their net.

Reeve's eyes widened and he shot a look to Ruhe who only smiled faintly under her tinted mask.

"Well, since the cats out of the bag, you gotta a good spot for us to land?" Harrison replied as he leaned over to try to spot the Gunnery chief.

"Call what you see." Came a cryptic reply.

Harrisons brow furrowed in confusion up until the point a pinprick of intense blue light erupted from the treetops by a clearing.

"Ah, right. I see a flare. Acknowledge Blue"

"Affirm, approach bearing 080 degrees magnetic"

Reeve briefly chided himself for not remembering friendly recognition protocol and pointed to the flare for Ruhe.

Max watched the skimmer descend on four jets of brilliant orange and blue light from his vantage point nearby before descending from his tree stand and making his way to the clearing. When he arrived the small utility craft had already settled in the grassy clearing and was ticking from its engines cooling. Reeve was busily rummaging around the bed of the skeletal tube steel and plasteel paneled craft as Max approached.

He smirked briefly at the craft, most likely something of Reeves design since it had the hallmarks of the techs preferences; Light, nimble, and fast. Its oversized engines resembled that of the nacelle mounted engines of a Mantis Gunship, which is probably were Reeve had salvaged them from. The over all shape of the small vehicle looked as though a dune buggy and a pickup truck had made love to a jet aircraft. Where wheels would be, four engines jutted out on articulating outriggers. Behind the two person crew "compartment" which was barely more than a few seats welded to the tube steel frame with some panels to deflect the worst of the wind was a massive fuel tank. The rear of the craft flared out into a cargo bed of sorts lined with welded in place tool boxes and winches.

"So how fast does it go?" Max smirked as he crept up behind Reeve.

The Tech half jumped half dove into the bed as he emitted a yelp in surprise.

"Holy crap! Jeez man -er Gunny." Reeve croaked as he clutched his chest.

Ruhe turned from the control console and peered down the side of the craft at the sound of the commotion before shaking her head fractionally and going back to shutting down the crafts systems.

"Sorry, here, let me help."

"I'm good. I got it. And Mach .9 -officially" Reeve replied as he recovered and smoothed out his oil stained uniform. He shouldered the tool bag and nodded in the direction of the smoke.

"I'm guessing that's you?"

"Yea, time for a bit of spring cleaning. Oh Hi Ruhe." Max replied as he noticed Ruhe for the first time.

The small female climbed out of the craft and waved briefly before making her way around the craft, checking it over.

"It must be really busted if you brought a quarian along. Also, officially?" Max remarked as he turned and made his way towards the Frame. Reeve shrugged and followed suite.

"Naw, I got this. Just figured she'd like to get off base for a bit. And yea, that's about the max I can go officially. Anything over that speed requires a mono-hull and mass effect field reinforcement as well as a litany of safeties and licenses.

But.

And this is heavily theoretical, if I had a shield generator to control aerodynamics and a small ME field generator set purely to control balance and weight, then maaaybe it could go about Mach 8."

Max shook his head as they neared the still frame.

"Theoretically" He echoed.

"Purely." Reeve replied with a knowing smirk.

The Human tech realized just how much he missed small talk as he knelt down and begun laying out his tools. Truth be told his counselor had remarked that one of his coping mechanisms was isolating himself. He would often counter that Ruhe was around typically. Only he left out the part where she would seldom, if ever, reply to his ramblings.

Max cast an appraising stare at Harrison as he set to work on the frame before glancing at where ever Ruhe had wandered off to. He had to admit, the lone survivor of Horizon had made some remarkable progress personally. He remembered how skittish and uncertain the Tech was when he had first arrived to Digeris. Compared to the quietly working person before him now, Max would have a difficult time picturing them as the same person.

"Hey Ruhe. We got processing chips. You wanna do your thing?" Reeve called out absently as he removed an access panel on the Frame.

Max glanced down and nearly started as the silent figure beside him both seemed to materialize out of nowhere and move suddenly. Max fought back the rush of adrenaline before it became another mind bending episode and sauntered back to a fallen log. He grunted as he sat heavily and ran his fingers absently through his thickening beard.

Reeve soon joined him on the log as he scrolled through a Technical Manual on his Omipad.

"I hate Processing chips. You gotta like take a pic before you pull them since none are labeled. I swear the design team did that on purpose to keep their contract since no one else has that crap memorized." He said distantly as he pulled up some schematics and began studying them.

Max squinted at Ruhe as she methodically pulled the chips and placed them in neat rows on a work mat Reeve had laid out. He blinked a few times and focused until the dimly lit scene playing out before him became a wash of grays and whites. Max could swear he could just barely make out Ruhe's form inside of her suit and looked away out of some sense of shame. He briefly recalled how Ree had teased him about his almost comical level of modesty and second hand embarrassment and sighed.

Harrison looked up from his schematics at the noise, his jaw setting as he felt a twinge of regret.

"I should have said something."

Max glanced over at Reeve, confused at first.

"Its ok. You didn't know any better. You were hurt and it preyed on you."

The Omni pad was set aside and forgotten as Harrison turned to face Max. He felt terrified to be talking about it, but his counselor had been encouraging him to speak his mind more and bottle up his feelings less.

"Its really not ok. I was here almost a year before you got here, and not once did I think that what she was doing was wrong. Your right though; My counselor says that I was still wounded from what happened on Horizon and I was so eager to fill the void left behind by my lost family that I looked to anyone or anything to fill it. Even if it brought me more pain."

Reeve could feel the ball of anxiety give way to an immense feeling of release as he finally got it out and in the open. His catharsis was short lived as Ruhe waved to him.

"Hey, do you think you could pull the…" Max trailed as he leaned over to spy Reeves Omnipad. "Primary Guidance control Module and Gyro stabilization unit."

Reeve grinned wistfully as the Gunny covered for him. "Its actually the Primary and Secondary that need to be pulled." He added.

Ruhe shrugged and nodded, turning back to the frame. Max placed a comforting hand on Reeves shoulder when the quarian went back to work.

"Look, you're a good kid. I don't blame you. Some people are just fucking nasty and evil, and they bring those around them down. It's a cancer that loves company." He reassured.

Reeve nodded and moved to hide his face in his hair but shook his head in annoyance when his hand rubbed at a shaved scalp instead. The moment hung, emotionally charged until Max released Reeves shoulder and took a deep breath.

"I was in a similar situation when I lost my wife. I put off dealing with it for so long. Id work myself to death and fixate on my hobbies to not think about it. My sense of loss became my tormentor. I started doing reckless and suicidal stunts to feel alive. I had to be pulled back into reality by someone to realize what I was doing was self destructive and wrong."

Although it was a loose interpretation of the events on Earth, Max didn't think telling Harrison that Alarees punched him in the face over thinking he had committed suicide would be taken quite the same way. It dawned on Max then that that's what Ree had done for him. In all the time he had spent out in the wilderness avoiding his problems, he had never had such a crystal clear thought.

He realized with a heavy hearted sigh that he was just doing what he had before; burying his grief in other things. Sure he could stay out in the wilderness and fill his time with just surviving and living off the land, but for what? He rubbed his brow as he felt a sudden surge of deep sadness. She was still here. Alone. When he pictured her sitting alone with a vacant stare he felt his eyes water. Reeve shifted and returned the comfort, patting Max on the shoulder and squeezing. He wanted to hate Max for taking away his master, but that was the old him. He hated himself for teetering on that path again and chewed his lip nervously.

"So where to after we get this thing fixed."

"I think I got a long journey ahead of me. Did you bring a spare power cell?"

"I think I can scrounge something together. You sure you don't want a ride?"

Max wiped his face and smoothed his beard.

"No. I need to do this my way."

Reeve nodded and heaved himself back on to his feet after a moment of silence. He joined Ruhe and helped speed up the process. Max watched distantly as the Tech snorted in disgust at the culprit, a busted module, and began it apart.

"You didn't bring spares I take it?" Max asked as Ruhe took her leave and wandered around the smoldering ruins of the cabin.

"All the spares are packed up along with the rest of the gear. So I gotta fabricate some kinda mounting bracket to keep this thing from working loose again." Reeve replied as he shook the component next to his ear.

"Glue it back together you mean?"

"Yeap" Reeve grinned.

Ruhe finished her tour of the area and sat beside Max. The gunnery chief could feel her eyes probing him and looked down at the small female.

"Uh.. Hi. I never did thank you for freeing me at the hospital." Max said as she continued to stare.

She shrugged, but didn't look away. Max could see part of her face as her internal helmet readouts flickered and changed color.

"Not geth, but similar." She said in her whispery monotone.

"You said something like that at the hospital. What's that about?"

Another infuriating shrug and then a flash of stabbing pain as she activated a scanner.

Max leaned away and shielded his head with his hands as the scan sent white flashes across his vision.

"Hey! Knock it off" He grunted. Reeve briefly looked up from his work, frowning as Max rubbed his brow.

"Like an AI core, but no intelligence detected." She replied cryptically.

"Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Max shook his head then busted out laughing. He knew she was probably replying to his thanks for the hospital incident, but her awkward prose left him wondering.

"You're a Gem Ruhe. Never change."

"Ok."

When Harrison finished "fabricating" he motioned Ruhe back over and gave her some space as she deftly snatched up chips and stuck them back into the frames control board. Harrison caught Max's look of disbelief as she seemed to do so at random and grinned.

"Neat trick right? Damn near photographic memory. I could mix them up and she'd still know which one went where as long as she saw me mix them." He said with a tinge of pride.

Max merely arched his brows and nodded appreciatively.

So maybe the whole memory thing is common among other species. Just what the hell did Bau put in my head anyway?

The gunnery chief had mental images of Frankenstein's monster replete with the Salarian laughing manically as he crammed random bits of other species in Max's body.

When the two had finished they booted up the frame, taking a cautious step back as the machine righted itself and stood slowly. It ran through its calibration cycle, twisting and bending to test its range of motion before folding itself up neatly and giving a small beep of functionality.

"Ah, we had to reset its calibration data. So its gotta relearn its user." Reeve said as he approached the frame and scanned it.

The Gunnery Chief pursed his lips in dismay. That was over two years of data lost.

"Serves me right for playing George of the Jungle." He surmised.

When all was said and done Max stood in the clearing in his newly repaired Frame and waved as they lifted off in the skimmer. The high pitched whine of its engines deepened a few octaves as they rotated out of VTOL mode and flared under hard acceleration. Max watched as the pinpricks of light disappeared into the night sky and smiled when he heard the tell tale boom of the craft going Mach.

He turned to leave and paused as he heard another boom, then another. He chuckled to himself as he pictured Ruhe holding on for dear life as the Tech took the craft beyond its "official" speed limits. He sobered as he neared the silver crate holding all that he needed to survive out in the wilderness. He turned around and squatted, letting the frame scoop up the cube with its winch before setting off into the wilderness. When he reached a ridgeline he paused, one path lead to further solitude. The other to more pain, but hopefully closure.

He checked his compass one last time before setting off.


	12. Chapter 12 Narns Folly

_The doctors tell me they can grow and graft new legs for me. I told him that such an abomination will never touch me. It's disgusting, as if you could simply grow back what's been taken. I hate her. I love her and I hate her. She was everything and she left me for dead. All I feel is a cold ball in my stomach. I wanted to die. The doctors say I came pretty close after that human came into my room._

 _Fucking humans._

 _Jorvan came to visit. I could feel him, his warmth and love. He pulled me from despair, he gave me a new purpose. I will show Ree how wrong she is. I will break her and give her all my love. She must see how flawed she is, that only I can love her._

 **Trafalgar Inpatient psychiatry Ward 27 June 2186**

The shape in front of her silently made notes in its Omni Pad before making a noise and leaving. Soon the familiar feeling of coolness spread from her inner thigh as her IV was replenished with another bag of nutrients. She didn't feel it though. That would require thoughts. Thoughts didn't matter. Only the steady drone of tunnel vision as shapes came and went was what existed.

She would blink and the scene would change. A scent would come and go or a sound would penetrate the fog long enough for a hazy memory to play through a frosted pane of glass. Its accompanying sound track would drone like music barely heard through a bedroom wall. Its tune was recognizable but its source untraceable as it played in halting staccatos just beyond the reach of conscious thought. Each day played out the same with rare exception. The months barely registered as her talons grew unruly and her fringe plates curled and thickened with neglect.

 _Blink_

Warmth across her legs. A bright square in front of her. The steady drip of her IV echoing like the steady beat of a bass drum.

 _Blink_

Softness beneath her. Flat white fills her vision. Its dark.

 _Blink_

More shapes, a orange glow. The shape makes noise to another. They leave and the coolness returns.

 _Blink_

A bright square, more warmth. A scent. Sharp and cloying. The sensation of movement as a shape wipes her down while she sits in her anti-grav chair.

 _Blink_

Softness against her, the blank white of the ceiling. Darkness.

 _Blink_

Loud noises. The milieu. Other shapes move about, a few are like her. One shape tugs on her arm and she's nearly pulled from her chair as shapes in white pull the other shape away. It stinks of something rotten.

 _Blink_

The bright square, warmth across her legs. A scent. A foggy memory plays. A noise, its shape unseen. The noise becomes painful.

 _Blink_

The scent, a shape. It sits in front of her making noises occasionally. Another shape in white, its arm glows and the other shape makes a distressed noise.

 _Blink_

Softness, darkness. The scent. A noise, rhythmic like breathing. A memory. Warmth remembered.

 _Blink_

Coolness, the scent is gone as shapes pass glowing orange lights over her.

 _Blink_

The scent is back, but unseen. Warmth across her legs. The bright square. Something blocks a corner of it. The big square is green.

 _Blink_

Softness and darkness. The scent and the sound return. It becomes quiet then calls out. The noise it calls is familiar.

 _Blink_

The green square, there is motion in the green. A window. The small square blocks a corner. The scent is beside her, silent.

 _Blink_

Softness and darkness, the scent brings warmth as her vision shakes. The feeling of more weight as it places another blanket on top of her. The coolness of her Iv makes her shake occasionally. The shape fills her hand with warmth. Its soft. Another memory, the shape of legs, one pair plated in deep onyx while the others are a fleshy pink. They are shaped differently.

 _Blink_

Warmth, window, trees. The small square is brown. The scent is gone. The shape makes noises in the other room.

 _Blink_

More orange glowing, more coolness. The shape returns with its scent when they leave. It makes some noises then grows silent. Warmth fills her hand. The shape makes noises that are familiar. Its fake. Her ears hear two things; Noise that sounds familiar and the alien noise of the shape. They are one in the same.

 _Blink_

The shape is gone. The window and square accompany her. The square has something written on it. She blinks and its closer. The words take shape:

 **21:33**

 **Chuckwalla Valley Raceway**

The figure staring back at Max bore the hallmarks of the Gunnery Chief, but everything was a little off. His green eyes were gaunt and stared blankly at the unruly black locks of hair that hid his brow and threatened to cover his eyes. A long thick beard hid most of his neck, if he tilted his head just right it hid the ugly dark brown scar across his throat.

The hiss of water breaks the silence as he cups water in his hands and splashes it over his face. His lips disappear as he tastes the water. Its cool and refreshing, but he cannot shake the feeling of filth that seems to fill every pore.

The human towels himself off, all the while staring at his reflection. He searches for himself but the person before him looks haggard and drained. His clothes hang loosely on his frame. His rationing and wilderness living has taken its toll on him. Despite having been afforded the use of the facilities amenities there's a level of grime that persists in his tattered clothes.

I look like a crazy ass hermit, or the brand logo for some sort of deodorant.

He braces mentally before going back into Ree's ward room. Each time he sees her it breaks another fragment off of his soul. He starts to hum but stops as an idea strikes him.

Music. Maybe something familiar will help. Shit what does she even like?

He scrolls through memories until he finds one of her humming while they shower together. It's a light melody, her natural voice sounding strangely melodic to the point that he turned off his translator implants and listened intently. He pulls out his Omni Pad as he comes back into her room.

"So this may take some doing since most programs are geared for human vocals when it comes to music finding buuut…"

The Omni pad in his hands fell to the floor as he glanced up at her. Max is on his knees in a heartbeat, clasping his hands over hers as she stares blankly down at the plaque clutched loosely in her hands. He feels a rush of panic and excitement as his mind races. He's torn between running to fetch a doctor and staying by her side. But then he looks up at her face and time stands still.

The Lead kicks in as she blinks. Not the languid shuttering of her eyes to keep them from drying out, but there's something there. Max drinks in every detail as her eyelid's movement slows to a crawl. Deep brown skin unfolds like a curtain over a stage cast in electric blue. Soon they're ascending, long black lashes scything up as pupils darker than the oblivion of space shrink to slivers. The muscles around her eyes twitch and begin to flex as they swing ever so slowly towards him.

He starts to feel his mind buzz with stimulation overload as he pushes the moment harder and slower than he's ever done before. He can feel the drone of a migraine coming as he watches her mandibles twitch, her mouthparts begin to spread as her throat flexes in such detail that he can watch the air fill her throat like a wave. He tries to hold on a little longer but its too much. He gasps and bows his head as the overload becomes unbearable. Its after a few ragged breaths that he realizes that the shrill noise isn't his mind.

She's screaming.

 **Dhal's Folly Digeris, 2 July 2186**

Shath Vaul stood silently beside Sighra Bau as Prefect Ferkan typed away at his terminal. Bau knew the tactic well, place people in a position of secondary concern in order to create an atmosphere of authority. When Bau's internal clock reached roughly the 10 minute mark he moved to leave. He didn't dare look at his omni, for that would play into the Prefects petty gamesmanship.

"I didn't say you could leave. We have unfinished business." Ferkan sneered from behind he desk as he didn't even bother to look up.

Vaul shifted uncomfortably at the sudden escalation in tension and gawked rather openly.

"Later. I have council business to attend to. You can reach me via Extranet. I'll get back to you when I finish speaking with them." Bau waved a hand dismissively not even breaking stride.

That did draw Ferkan's attention. He looked up just as the door closed and was instead greeted by Vaul grinning ear to ear.

"You serve at my leisure, krogan." He snapped and pushed away from his desk.

Vauls grin hardened and he took a step forward.

"And that's supposed to mean what? I didn't say a thing." Vaul said with a small measure of menace.

Ferkan sighed and pinched his brow. Things were getting out of hand. He was growing tired of dreading every message and phone call. The looming threat of being relieved hung heavily over his head. Learning that not only was the Salarian back, but that he had a direct line to the council didn't help matters. Whatever machinations Ferkan had to "deal" with the STG operative went right out the window when he received both Hierarchy and Council endorsed orders to "make up a position" for the Salarian doctor.

"Calm down. I brought you up here to discuss the next cycle of students. We're looking to only host two species at a time or, failing that, break them up into mono-species platoons."

Vaul widened his stance and crossed his massive arms.

"That's against everything I learned. The Gunnery Chief understood this and made us embrace the diversity."

"Yes, however we don't have the luxury of the Gunnery Chiefs… Personal touch or drive." Ferkan countered and fought the urge to mirror the krogans stance.

"And you're assuming we'll all have the luxury of forming nice neat little cohesive units when shit goes south?" Vaul shook his massive head and pointed at the turian. "The whole idea of JSC was to be ready for un-ideal battles. You're a warrior -supposedly, when has anything gone according to plan?"

Ferkan didn't take the bait but instead nodded. He knew the krogan had a point, which in and of itself was troublesome, but he couldn't admit to it just yet. So he tried a different track.

"Look, we're down two of our primary instructors, and the humans wont send another representative until we've either brought Gunnery Chief Barrett back on board, or he has returned to the Systems Alliance for reassignment."

"Hmm. I'm not seeing how your personal problems effect me." Vaul grumbled as he feigned serious contemplation of the issue. He even stroked his chin for good measure.

Vaul blinked as the turian slammed a fist on to the desk but didn't budge.

"Spirits DAMN IT!" He spat as he seethed.

"Calm down." Vaul mocked.

Ferkan was visibly shaking, and for a moment, the krogan wondered if he'd gone too far. But that moment came and went as the turian stilled and very deliberately and slowly poured himself a glass of water, which shook in his hand. Vaul was disappointed, after witnessing a mockery of a fight which was revealed to be a complete farce he had built up a few choice words for the Prefect. And by words he meant limbs he would like to break.

He shook his head and brushed aside the turians anger with a wave of the hand.

"Whatever. Look, we can work around the gaps in faculty. That's not the problem. The problem is the students need to see first hand how other species function and live. Keeping them all isolated sounds perfect if you've been burned. But we might as well keep everyone home and send out brochures for all the value they will get out of living like that."

Ferkan nodded fractionally but didn't trust himself to speak.

"As a Battlemaster I would want my Krantt to know the enemy just as well as his allies. Every bit of strength is only as useful as the warrior wielding it. If he doesn't know how to counter or use a Biotics abilities, then what the hell is he going to do when he encounters it in battle?"

"Very well, I will take your recommendations under consideration." Ferkan murmured as he became anxious for the krogan to leave.

Vaul gave a small "humpf" and shrugged as he turned and left.

Bau stood just outside the door, waiting with a small grin.

"He's about to lose it." Vaul murmured as they walked together.

"Good. Such a misuse of power should have some consequence." Bau said tightly.

Vaul tilted his head, leveling a blood red reptilian eye at the salarian.

"So what's this about council stuff?"

"Sorry, mostly need to know. But what I can tell you is that it concerns our mutual friend."

"Ah, I'm kinda disappointed it isn't about shit canning Ferkan."

"In due time, in due time. Also I will say that you were very well spoken in there."

Vaul gave a toothy smile, his missing tooth showing proudly.

"Well I did learn from our mutual friend that I should try to see beyond the problem and try to figure out what's causing it. Ferkan's panicking. He doesn't want another incident and he thinks putting everyone in their own little corners will keep everyone under control. Except turians tried that once before, then neutered my race when that didn't work."

Bau blanched internally, intentional or not, mention of the genophage was still a sore spot for most salarians. They walked in silence until they exited the HQ building where Vaul hovered uncertainly. Bau stopped and turned, the bright Digerian noon making him squint at the krogan.

"Speaking of our mutual friend, I have a hunch where I might get more information on his whereabouts. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Sure, beats the hell out of sitting around and lifting weights all day." Vaul grunted in acceptance.

Vaul had to stoop to enter the Mech bay, his large frame barely fitting through the rear access door. When they entered the cavernous enclosure they were greeted by total silence as the assortment of equipment lining its walls stood vigil. Bau glanced around before heading to the rear office and rapping on the door with his slender fingers. When no answer came he stroked his chin briefly before breathing a small "ah" and striding purposefully to the far side of the bay. Vaul shuffled after him, eyeing some of the more lethal looking vehicles with keen interest as they walked.

The salarian stopped at a small door that had been hastily cut into the metal paneling set beside the massive hanger doors of the Bays front. He opened it and stepped into a small hall that terminated into a staircase set in duracrete.

"What the hell is this?" Vaul said as he blinked and tried to focus in the darkness.

The staircase terminated with a utility lift lit with luminescent strips along the walls and floor which they followed as Bau spoke.

"O.L.S. Orbital Launch System. It predates the Krogan Rebellions. In fact it had a hand in breaking the Krogan Blockade of Digeris during the rebellions. Warlord Dhal had placed his ships between the planet and the turian fleet, making it hard for them to fire on them without the potential for hitting a population center.

Originally it was made to deliver goods and materials into Orbit before atmospheric entry with early Mass Effect starships were robust enough to sustain many such entries. During the rebellions it was used to insert mines into orbit as well as a few direct attacks with volatile payloads." Bau recited as if reading from a codex.

Vaul eyed his surroundings more thoughtfully as the salarian spoke and watched with great interest as their descending elevator emerged from its narrow shaft into a moderately sized cavern lined with huge stone blocks and steel beams. The roughly oval shaped space had a ceiling of only 10 meters in height but was wide as it housed several steel slot tracks meant for cargo carts and capsule loading. The center of the space was taken up by huge lifts and pistons for loading the chamber of the giant rail gun. A control room was set against the back wall, where the elevator had emerged, and was set high enough to overlook the happenings of the loading platforms and cart traffic.

When the two stepped out of the utility lift they where greeted by the tang of ozone in the air and the fizzle of a welding tool as bright white light strobed from within the "chamber" of the gun. Bau shielded his eyes as he threaded his way around the myriad of rather large looking components and the carts being used to store them. When he approached the lone figure welding he waited until they finished their bead before making his presence known.

Ruhe touched the side of her helmet to de-tint her mask as she turned to face him. Her grey and blue envirosuit was marred with streaks of oil and soot from working on the launcher

"Where's Technician Reeve?" Bau prompted and was provided a gloved finger aimed at the control room.

Vaul lingered behind, surveying what the quarian was doing. He crouched and looked down the "barrel" of the gun. Its length was hidden by shadow as well as a barely detectable curve. Its was rectangular with conductive railing lining the walls of the barrel. It was large enough for Vaul to stand fully upright and was almost twice as wide.

"Just how long is this thing anyway?" Vaul wondered aloud as Ruhes faintly iridescent eyes glowed at him through her mask.

"10.2 Kilometers. 2.2 is dedicated to current generation and regulation. The last Kilometer phases out conductive railing and helps aim the capsule since it can articulate vertically." Ruhe whispered.

Vaul merely nodded and stood with a grunt. His mind was still trying to wrap around the concept of a gun almost 10 kilometers long buried under ground slinging "volatile loads" at breathtaking speeds at ships in orbit.

"So what are you working on now?" He said as he glanced over the panels peeled back and scattered around where Ruhe was working.

"New contact rails for the sled mechanism. None are made anymore. So I'm making them." She replied with a small shrug. A memory came to her just then, the shapes of four turians scurrying away from the Barracks the night Max was attacked. She had seen one before they had left, removing his unit and rank markings from his armor. He was gray plated with gold tattoos. Vauls roommate.

"Centurion Verfher was one of the four." She breathed and shook her head as the warning tinge of a migraine throbbed weakly in her head. She set the welding rod down gently and cradled her head In her hands.

Vaul looked on with confusion, then concern.

"Are you gonna keel over or somethin?" he rumbled as he knelt back down.

"I'm ok. Please I must work."

New, she needed something new to keep from falling back into her memories. The endless loop playing like the echoed image of a holo screen showing the feed of a camera pointed at itself. She grunted as she could feel the throb worsen and hastily grabbed at the welding rod.

 _Contact rail needs to be at a deflection angle of 5 degrees to ensure smooth transition to acceleration rails.._

She filled her mind with the math needed to align her work with the other parts and began taking measurements, Vaul's troubled stare went ignored until he shrugged and left her to her work.

"Shotguns or a Revenant is more my thing." Vaul remarked as he caught up to Bau who was talking to a scrawny looking human male. A niggling feeling persisted in the back of his mind however, something in how the quarian had stared at him as she whispered Narn's name and rank.

The krogan pushed the unease from his mind as he looked Reeve up and down. He vaguely remembered the whelp, shouting until he turned blue when Jaa'Quans prosthetic had exploded. He had ran to the Omni barrier only to bounce off of it harmlessly as he made incomprehensible noises. When security and a medical team had arrived he was already gone.

Vaul was too busy trying to get Alarees out of the way of the stampede of people to really fixate on the kid. Bau had told him a little about him, namely how Jaa had used him. But aside from that he struck the krogan as flighty and weak. Perhaps even more so based on the wide eyed look he was getting as he neared the two.

"Y-yea. Uh. So like I don't know how to help you man." He continued after Bau and Reeve had glanced at Vauls mottled green and brown frame.

"Please. I bear no ill will to either him or yourself. Your flight on the night of 22 June was to these following grid coordinates." Bau said calmly as he showed him the path Ruhe had taken to the Gunnery Chiefs location as well as the slightly more erratic path Reeve had taken on the way back. "Those coordinates are the site of a burned structure as well as trace evidence of all three of you being there."

Reeves eyes widened as he looked at the salarians Omni, included with the graphic overlay was the time of flight as well as altitudes. None of that information should have been available anywhere unless they had been actively monitoring him, which was hard to do considering the crafts tiny size and skeletal makeup -All features not quite entirely unintentional. Or.

Reeves eyes narrowed as he looked back up at Sighra.

"You put a tracker on my skimmer." He accused.

"Yes. If there was a chance that Barrett would reach out to anyone it would you or myself. I'm guessing his Exo frame broke, hence why he called you. If he had gotten sick I'd imagine I would have been the one." Bau said as he slipped the Omi pad back into his lab coat pocket and jammed his other hand into the other pocket.

"I really need to see him. I fear for his health, especially given all that has happened. When you saw him, how did he look? Is he still being reactive to any sort of active scanning?"

Reeve lost his train of thought on how much trouble he could get in to if that tracker data fell into the wrong hands when the salarian brought up Max's health. If there was a chance at denying seeing the Alliance Marine it disappeared the moment Bau said "reactive."

He rubbed the nape of his neck and took a deep breath, nervously eyeing Vaul who looked on with only mild interest. -And possibly hunger, Reeve could never tell with krogans.

"Look. Uh. What could happen if those things where happening?" He said as his voice broke.

"It means his implants still haven't dissolved and may, in fact, be causing more harm than good now."

Reeve fidgeted in silence as he warred within before speaking up, his mind made up with a heave of the shoulders.

"I really cant help you man. I don't know where he went after we left. But If you can find Jorst you might find him. I dunno. Dudes pretty messed up, and that's saying a lot coming from me." Reeve said as he met Bau's gaze briefly.

Bau's orange eyes probed the human, as if more information could be gleaned from something in his appearance. When his piercing stare netted nothing save for an uncomfortable rub of the neck he thanked the human for his time and turned to leave. Harrison was left with the terrifyingly large krogan before he to turned and followed Bau.

"You get anything useable?" Vaul asked as he chanced at glance at the quarian as they passed by her on the way back to the lift. She was busily toiling away, their presence not even registering as they walked by.

"More than enough. I should have figured as much. Since he hasn't left the planet there would be very few places I would imagine he would go." Bau replied as he crammed into the corner of the lift to make room for the krogan.

"Hmm. I suppose you don't need my help with finding him then? Unless there's a bar involved, or you'll be working close to one." Vaul looked down at the salarian, only to see him shaking his head with a wry smile.

"What? It gets dangerous in bars. You might need back up." Vaul said defensively as the salarian keyed the lift and they began to ascend.

"In answer to your question, no I am afraid. However I do not intend to go straight to her. Such an abrupt presence would be suspicious and would be met with hostility if he was with her." Bau said as he rubbed a dark blue scale on his head.

"Sighra. How many people would you say were present when Max was attacked?"

Bau dropped his hand, his eyes fixing on the krogan as he wondered why the sudden change in topic.

"Four to Five. There was a lot of masking and smearing of the forensic evidence from all the movement and violence. Why?"

"Nothing" Vaul scowled.


	13. Chapter 13 Good Luck

_"I have no Cabal now and none will take me. I'm an outsider. Forgotten to the world. I don't know what to do with myself. I spoke with Prefect Ferkan, my old Commanding Officer, and he offered to have me transferred to some new base on Digeris. Father seemed a bit too eager for me to go there._

 _I hear Denae went to earth."_

 **Trafalgar Inpatient psychiatry Ward 3 July 2186**

"Please, have a seat."

The prompt by the asari counselor went unheeded as Max stood in front of the counseling offices' tiny window. He could see the Wards small courtyard and reception area from his vantage point. A lone turian orderly in white garb pushed a rather ancient looking salarian across the courtyard in a anti-grav chair to a fountain. Max shook his head fractionally. He was probably barely 35 years old at best. Meanwhile the asari counselor sitting patiently behind him was in her early 100's. The disparity in lifespans was just enough to distract Max momentarily.

"Mister Barrett?"

He took a long deep breath and turned away from the window, sliding into the offered over-stuffed love seat and leaning back into its padding with a sigh. She looked young, almost to the point of innocence.

"Have you ever taken a life?"

The question cut the air like a knife. Max briefly wondered if he had in fact said it, judging by the widening eyes of the counselor he had. So he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together as he pressed on. He knew how these sort of things went. He's been through all manner of counseling following the death of his wife, but it was something he'd always gone through the motions of doing. He would typically nod and agree with whatever nonsense the counselor had said based on his few replies to questions and go on about his day.

Now it didn't matter. He had always felt he was wasting time. Time he could spending working and burying his grief. But time was all he had now. He didn't feel the guilt of "wasting time" with counselors. So he did what he probably should have done so many years ago, he opened up.

"Up until the tribunal, violence had always seemed to be just another part of the job. Sure, emotion is involved. But it was always impersonal, a necessity to survive, fight, and win. I remember being told by my old instructor that it is ok to Kill. But to murder is to kill without justification. Regardless it would still make me feel ill. Being justified in doing such things served only to rationalize an inherently insane deed."

More stunned silence ensued as the counselor remembered she had a note pad and began scribbling.

"I.. I see. What about the Tribunal has changed that?" She said as her head tilted, genuine curiosity lifting her thin brow markings.

"I wanted her to die. I didn't want to kill her, but I wanted her to die. But when she was on top of me and I could see the end coming I would have given everything to murder her slowly over everything she'd done. And in that moment I felt like I was no better than her."

He was absently tracing the scar along his throat as he stared off into oblivion. He shook from his reverie and refocused on the asari.

"But when I saw Ree collapsing and I felt like I was already dead. That no matter the outcome, we'd lose each other. That bitch was right." He added with a disgusted shake of the head.

"What makes you think that?"

He shrugged mentally and went for the first thing to cross his mind. He figured offering placating statements hadn't worked the first time, why do it now.

"Jaa had her proverbial claws in Ree long before I came into the picture. She knew exactly what buttons to push. I ended up being just another tool used to hurt her. I mean did you not see her reaction when she came too? The first thing she sees is the person who murdered her lover."

The Counselor nodded, adding another note before speaking.

"I do admit, the lengths that were travelled to achieve such damaging results are fairly breathtaking. It speaks of a being with nothing to lose." She set the pad down and crossed a leg elegantly as she folded her hands neatly in her lap. "But I would say that perhaps you are projecting your expectations of her reactions based on your experience and species-centric psychology."

Max rubbed his palms together as he felt a sense of unease grow within. He forced himself to still and rested his bearded chin on the tips of his fingers as he cast a questioning stare at the counselor. He found it oddly refreshing to be so open, if not a little bit worrying that he be so open to a complete stranger. Normally it would take several sessions to get to this point.

"What do you mean?"

Her soft blue complexion creased as she searched out the best way to explain it.

"Well, based on what you've told me, you're no stranger to violence. And I am fairly certain you've experienced some form of loss in the past. It may sound callous, but that's fairly common of someone involved in military service. So does the expectation of domestic emotions. By that I mean you relate your own emotional state to other humans."

"But.. I. We've felt things, together. Things I know mean the same thing, even if they're expressed differently. I've seen her laugh, cry, angry, upset. Things I know have the same impact as when I feel them." He could feel his throat tightening. His hands balled as he calmed his breathing. "I felt a connection. I could look in her eyes and see someone. A soul. Someone I.."

He couldn't bring himself to say it. The ache in his chest took his breath away.

"You care about her."

"Yes. And now all I'll ever be is the human who murdered her lover, or a source of guilt."

She nodded politely, biding her time as he processed his emotions. When he had taken a few calming breaths and swept the hair back from his eyes she resumed with a empathetic tone.

"I think you may be surprised Max. What I am trying to get at is that while there are similar emotions, different species process them in their own ways. But we haven't even talked about the nature of her catatonia; When beings typically undergo such a dramatic shift in both physiological and psychological behavior, its typically a form of self preservation. In the moment she collapsed her mind became so overwhelmed it shut down what was causing it harm. She needed time to let wave activity calm before she could emerge."

Max nodded uncertainly, his doubt plainly evident she continued. She motioned to him as she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward as well.

"Which leads me to my earlier point. Turians process great emotional distress differently. She came back from her state as if someone had hit un-pause on a holo vid. For all we know the last thing she saw was the horror at the Tribunal."

"Only to wake up and see me leering at her." Max replied bitterly.

"Max, she's most likely just now started to realize how long she's been away. She hasn't even begun to reconcile events. There are some fairly lengthy neurochemical reasons for this, which I will spare you. But basically her body and mind needed time to recuperate before being able to function again."

"But what if all this changes her?"

"If you mean she becomes unstable like her former mate, that's highly unlikely. I've pulled what I can of her file and it appears there are some glaring developmental issues stemming from her upbringing."

Max nodded, but still felt uncertain. It was too reassuring, too convenient. The asari watched the emotions play across his face as her poise remained stoic.

"36"

He looked up, confused.

"In answer to your earlier question, I was a commando for 43 years before I decided I would rather help people. My first area of study was the Ardat-Yakshi and how our isolationist policy has bred a sense of dread and extreme violence within the population. I wanted to change minds and help reintegrate them into the population, still do, but it's a very long lived task to take up. So in the mean time I gather information on other species and cultures and how they deal with both genetic and psychological disorders in the hope that I will be able to use my experience to sway our government some day."

He smiled a sad smile and nodded.

"Yea. I'm thinking a change in jobs might be in order as well. You have any opening here?" He said half jokingly.

"Although your services were greatly appreciated in the care and maintenance of Ms. Jorst and her life support equipment, I can say with reasonable certainty that that was a rare exception to the rather strict requirements for working within this Ward."

Max chewed on a corner of his lip as he recalled the shocked looks he had received when he had shown up at the Ward like a wild creature. The eyes had gotten wider when he told the receptionist who he was and who he was here to see. News had travelled fast evidently, at least amongst the turian staff whom the Director was amongst. He had begrudgingly allowed him to stay as an "special visitor" and had turned a blind eye as the human had taken over most of the care of Alarees.

"So what now?"

The corner of the asari's counselors mouth curled in a small smile.

"Now the real healing can begin."

 **Dhal's Folly, Digeris**

Vaul stood at the counter of his new kitchenette as he wavered drunkenly. The bottle of ryncol gripped in his massive hand emptied most of its contents into the glass, but some of the vivid green liquid spilled on to the faux marble counter. Vaul watched with some amusement as the green smear bubbled as its mildly corrosive properties bit into the material.

The bottle was set with a solid thud and he moved off, glass in hand, back to the small bedroom area. His massive frame settled on to the bed and he resumed a holo vid with a swipe of his hand at the screen. The frozen images of two fighters locked in battle resumed their bloodied movements as one of the krogan fighters grazed the other with an elbow that sent some teeth flying before following up with a knee to the stomach.

"Yeaa! haah haah haah." Vaul cheered before taking a sip of his caustic beverage.

A chime at the door signaled company, to which Vaul grumbled at as he heaved off the bed and swayed his way to the door. He pulled up his loose fitting shorts as best he could given that the belt had been lost ages ago.

He was greeted by the gray plating and gold tattoos of Narn Verfher as he stood at the door clad in a black long sleeve and rust colored trousers. His usually smug demeanor wavered as he took in the krogans state.

"House warming party? And you didn't invite me?" He said with feigned injury. Vaul rolled his massive eyes and ambled away from the door.

"Yea, yea. What do you want?" He grumbled as he made his way back to the bedroom.

Narn was taken aback, so much so that his open mouthed stare was presented to Vaul's retreating backside. He recovered with an awkward tug at his collar and followed the krogan inside. Ever since the tribunal the krogan had been fairly illusive. At first Narn had dismissed it as shock of some sort, now that the indifference had been laid bare he didn't know quite how to proceed.

"Well.. To see how you're doing mostly. They sure did a good job of keeping everyone busy up until graduation." He said as he closed the door smoothly behind him and rounded the small parapet wall that separated the entryway from the bedroom.

Vaul rounded and sat back down on the edge of the almost too small bed and lifted his glass off the nightstand. He swayed slightly as he took another healthy drink and set the glass back down. His blood red eyes glanced at Narn briefly before turning back to the fight on the Holo.

"I'm fine." He rumbled.

"I'm surprised you're still here. On Digeris."

"I could say the same for you."

Narn cracked a smile.

"Well I've actually got orders to my next Unit. Which is another reason I wanted to stop by." A small vibrato of hopefulness colored his subvocals as his eyes flitted over the krogans frame.

"Good luck."

Narn's mandibles twitched in annoyance. This wasn't the uncertain krogan he had met, the one who was eager yet terrified of his own identity.

"Look. If this is about my testimony. I was duty bound to report it after what happened to my Kin."

"Was ganging up on a lone human like coward pyjacks your duty as well?" Vaul sneered as his massive head tilted to level a narrowed eye at the turian.

An icy chill coursed through Narn, the air felt charged as he floundered. He knew. Somehow he knew.

"What I did was for the protection of my Kin. Had I known I was serving merely as a catalyst for someone else's schemes I would have obviously abstained from such actions."

He was meat with a small shake of the head before Vaul turned back to the Holo. He had half a mind to stand up and punch him. His blood began to chill as the anger began to build on itself.

"See your self out. Quickly" He rumbled menacingly.

Narn tried to come up with a reply, a retort, anything. But no matter what angle he looked at the situation from he couldn't see a way out. His head hung in defeat as he made his way back to the door.

"You're a stronger person than I, in more than one respect." He managed before silently slipping back into the brisk Digerian night.

Vaul sat in front of the Holo, picturing Narn as one of the fighters getting pummeled by his opponent before his anger made him tremble. The glass went sailing into the Holo resulting in a shower of sparks as the device shorted from the thick green contents of the glass.

When that didn't seem to have any effect on his agitation he angrily stormed to the kitchen and gripped the bottle of Ryncol before storming out of his trailer. He didn't know where he was going, but whomever did cross his path was probably going to end up in a hospital. His bare feet found their way to the Mech bay where he almost ripped the door from its hinges entering it.

The normally brightly illuminated warehouse was a cacophony of dark shapes and jutting machinery. Vauls reptilian eyes quickly adapted to the darkness as he picked his way around some the bigger equipment and shoved through tool carts and the like. When he arrived at the OLS entryway he took a long draw from the bottle before plunging inside ad descending.

He leaned heavily on the guard railing of the lift as it moved. His thick plated fingers dragged along the smooth duracrete elevator shaft as his eyes struggled to focus from the drink. He tumbled out of the lift and staggered to the OLS loading chamber where Ruhe had been working the day before. All the panels were back in place, only the telltale shine of newly installed components gave any clue that she had been working there.

His mottled green and brown hide practically collapsed on to the decking as he sat. He stared blearily into the infinite abyss of the launch tube as his mind finally wandered from how bad he wanted to hurt someone to how fucking big this gun was. A gun that was used to help stem the tide of the Krogan Rebellions. Was that why the place was called Dhal's Folly? Was it all just to rub it in the face of his kind?

"Yea well I'm here and FUCK YOU" He bellowed into the shaft. His voice echoed back at him, a few octaves lower.

"The hell did you say?" He slurred as he stood and approached the tunnel.

Another long pull from the ryncol bottle before it was hurled into the abyss.

"Yea, that's what I thought." He sneered before falling back on to his rear, painfully.

His stubby tail protested being landed on and he growled in pain as he rolled on to his side and fumed. The decking was cold, at least to any non-Krogan. He slumped, bare save for his ill fitting shorts as his eyelids began to feel heavy.

"I didn't like that asshole anyway." He mumbled before falling into dreamless sleep.

"Don't"

Harrison looked up at Ruhe as he crouched beside the sleeping Krogan. The tuning rod in his hand was poised a few inches away from Vauls nose.

"But how do we know he's not dead?" Reeve countered.

"Vitals are stable, blood pressure high. Trace amounts of chemicals and fermentation detected" Ruhe whispered back as she finished a scan with her suits built in systems.

"Why do you hate fun?" Reeve pouted as he stood and turned to the quarian female. "Well its almost noon. Doesn't he have a job or something to do around here?" He added as he surveyed the krogans barely clothed frame. He couldn't help but make the comparison to a snail or a turtle since Vaul was on his stomach, his massive hump perched atop his head plate protectively.

"Ya know I've never seen a krogan sleep before. It looks uncomfortable as all get out." He thought aloud before tossing the rod aside and walking away. Ruhe glanced over her shoulder at Vaul one last time before following suite.

"Well it doesn't look like he destroyed anything down here. The mess he left up in the bay is pretty rad in a bad way." He continued as he stepped into the control room and booted up a few systems.

Ruhe watched with keen interest up until the point she saw Reeve pan a security camera at the krogan and began booting up the launch alarm klaxons. It was at that point she scrambled to lock the doors of the control room and drop the emergency blast shutters over the windows.

Narn was perched on Vauls lap, his bare upper torso rising and falling rhythmically as Vaul guided the turians hips with his hands. Narn mouthed something which the krogan strained to hear. When he leaned closer the turians mouth hinged open to an impossible degree and emitted the most ear piercing shriek imaginable. Vaul felt himself begin to fall and jolted awake as the cold steel decking beneath him slammed into him.

He was on his feet instantly, albeit with an imbalance to his posture as his mind reeled to catch up with his surroundings. The noise ceased mid shriek and the OLS chamber became deathly silent as the krogan surveyed his surroundings warily. He took a wavering step forward, narrowing his blood shot eyes as a monster of a hangover sent its opening volley of nausea shooting down his throat.

Ruhe wasn't prone to violence, or anything really. However the current state of Harrison made her eye a particularly large wrench as the human laughed hysterically, doubled over the control console. What small amount of mirth Ruhe may have felt was lost the moment the krogan began angrily stomping around the launch chamber.

"Oh man. I'm gonna die. Heeehahahah."

Ruhe's faintly iridescent eyes turned to slits as her gaze went from the wrench, to the human, to the video feed.

"You may get your wish." She breathed and began looking for a hiding place as the krogan disappeared from the video feed.

"Hey, hehehe, hey, C'mon Ruhe. Where are you-"

The knocks sounded more like gunshots as Vaul pounded on the door.

Reeve reached the quarian just as she slid the access panel shut and sealed it from the inside. The narrow crawl space pressed its mechanical innards against the quarian's envirosuit as she shimmied sideways, away from the soon to be scene of carnage.

Reeve looked around wildly, panic chilling any vestiges of humor from him as Vaul continued to pound on the door.

"I heard you talk human, open up." He growled.

Reeve frantically went to the control console and killed the video feeds before scattering some tools around and hurriedly making his way to the door. He was greeted by a noxious wave of ryncol laced breath accompanied by a very unhappy krogan.

"Oh, hey. Didn't know you were down here. What brings you by?" Reeve huffed as he nervously tugged at his mechanics jumpsuit.

Vauls low rumble of a growl made the human visibly reel as Reeve could feel the alcohol permeate the air and soak into every pore.

"Woah, oh my god my eyes are watering." Reeve coughed as he stepped back.

"Who were you talking to?" Vaul said with a humbling flash of large jagged teeth.

"Oh I do that sometimes when I work. I kinda like talking through the problem I'm working on out loud, helps me focus." Reeve said with an easy shrug. "Say, you wouldn't know who was in my shop last night? They really tore the place up." He added with a curious raise of a blond brow. His heart felt as though it would explode from his chest at any moment.

Vaul sneered, taking a menacing step forward before eyeing the room and grumbling again.

"Watch it human. The best cure for a hangover is to eat something greasy." He said as he focused back on to the human and stooping to put himself at eye level with the human.

He stood slowly after holding Reeves gaze for an uncomfortably long moment and ambled his way out of the control room, pulling up on his loose fitting shorts as he scratched his unmentionables. When Reeve heard the lift activate he released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and slouched against the console.

"Wowie wow wow. Some friend you are. Notice how I covered for you?" Reeve managed after a few deep breaths.

"Help. I'm stuck." Came a slightly panicked whisper from behind the wall.

 **Trafalgar Inpatient psychiatry Ward 3 July 2186**

For a bone chilling second it appeared as though she had reverted back into a catatonic state. Max looked upon Ree from the rear, his lips pressed into a thin line of apprehension. She sat in her wheel chair facing the window as still as she had been when he had first arrived at the clinic. He could just make out the small rhythmic motion of her mandibles as she took long deep breaths.

He opened the door further, his movements slow and gentle so as to not upset the air of fragile calm that seemed on the verge of shattering at any second. The Asari counselor gave a reassuring squeeze of his shoulder as she stayed behind in the hallway. Max looked back at her, nodding and taking a deep breath before sliding the rest of the way in and closing the door with a soft click.

Ree's head turned fractionally, her profile presenting itself as Max froze. Her crest plates had grown to the point of peeking out past her crown, almost looking like a males. They curved sharply downwards, following the contour of the back of her head almost to the point of touching her cowl. He could see where the plates had chafed against the cowl, rubbing fine grooves on them and marring the dark luster of her black plating.

He felt a gust of cool air and caught the scent of trees as he noticed that the window was open. Neither dared to break the silence, each unsure of the stance of the other as they were drawn into a stalemate. Max moved further into the room, taking a cautious step forward, as if he were approaching skittish fawn. When she turned further he held his breath. A single electric blue eye flitted over him before her chin dipped and she turned back to the window. He took that as tacit acceptance of his presence and slid into the seat beside her, facing the window as well.

He chanced a sidelong glance, noting how her eyes had closed while she entered a meditative state. Her throat muscles moved as she shaped words but left them unsaid. Her stark white hospital gown hung loosely on her slender frame as she clutched the placard in her clawed hands. He was still searching for words when she emitted a low deep hum from her lower vocals before letting the placard slip from her grasp into her lap and rubbed her hands together. Max fidgeted with his own hands as he stared at them, a numb throb filling his mind as tidal waves of emotion settled into a ceaseless churning of indecision.

Ever so slowly a three fingered hand slid into view as Max stared at his lap. Black dagger like talons spread wide as she opened her hand. Max felt his nose tingle as his eyes watered, not quite realizing how on the verge of tears he was until it was too late. He slid his hand into hers, his human anatomy finding purchase in her touch in an ungainly tangle of fingers and claws. Her palm was warm to the touch, her grip weak, as if she would change her mind at any moment and withdraw.

"I need you to lift my arm back. I'm too weak."

His head jerked up to meet her gaze. Her voice was scratchy, the usual soft flange to her subvocals hoarse. Be it from screaming or from the fatigue Max couldn't be sure. So he lifted their entwined hands and placed them between them, resting on the armrest of her wheelchair. For a while the faint rustle of the trees outside was the only sound as the air gradually thawed.

A soft rapping at the door had Max's brow arch curiously as an orderly slipped inside with a cart in tow. Steam roiled off a covered tray filling the room with an aromatic medley of spices and cooked louza. Max nodded to the orderly as he deposited the cart in front of Ree and uncovered the tray. The female turian swallowed hard as her stomach rumbled in hunger. She felt ravenous having been off her IV for the better part of two days. She reached for the tray with her free hand but it felt as if it was made of lead. Her arm fell on to her lap as the fatigue won out.

"It's ok, I'll help."

"But why?" She sighed as her shoulders sagging.

Max shooed the orderly away and pulled the cart in front of him, buying time as he began to preemptively shred the louza with long slender forks meant for turian hands. Ree watched silently, the wrongness of it all making her breathing shallow.

"Because… Well you need help and I want to help you." Max said eventually and felt like an idiot before he finished speaking. "I know, not what you meant. It's… It's just hard." He added and loaded a fork with food before gently slipping it into Ree's hand handle first. She stared at the morsel, willing her arm to raise but only succeeding in a tremble.

Max gave an encouraging nod as she tried, but saw the defeat in her eyes as her mandibles raised in effort. He beckoned her to allow him to help and gently reclaimed the fork. He met her gaze as he raised the utensil to her lips and stopped.

"But _why_?" She repeated, eyes wide and vulnerable as she searched Max's face for answers.

"Because I want to be here. With you. But if you don't want me here I'd understand." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper as he lowered the fork.

She nodded, her mind sluggishly trying to process what he said as well as take in his ragged appearance. She spied the ugly brown line peeking out from the thick bramble of a beard and met his gaze again. His expression was uncertain, if not a little fearful. Of her?

He watched her eyes wander, feeling them penetrate him like an X-ray as he waited in silence. Her hand moved again, sliding across the armrest to his with a sort of agonized lethargy that was painful to watch.

"Please." She beckoned as she pulled weakly at his hand.

Max couldn't recall a time in his life where he had willed his hands to be steadier as he fed her the first bit of food. -Which was saying a lot given his frequent involvement with things that explode. He had to force himself to look away as she chewed slowly and tilted her head back to swallow. He had almost forgotten how peculiar it was to watch a turian eat. When she settled and looked back up at him he chided himself for not preparing the next bite. He hastily began shredding the Louza, his cheeks flushing.

"So what now?

"I think you should probably finish this, I sure as hell can't eat it. I don't want to end up like that turian aid back on earth."

He glanced up to see a faint smile as she recalled the incident he referenced. How everyone had sat around the table in horrified silence as the aid frantically shoved ice in his mouth to counteract the sear of a habanero pepper.

"Terminal phase event" She said with a hint of amusement. Her smile waned as she met his gaze and held it as long as she could bear. She told herself she should feel embarrassed to have to be cared for like this but she felt too drained to worry about it. A part of her was still in disbelief that he was even here at all. She tried to place herself in his situation and couldn't see beyond the need to put as much distance between himself and her as possible.

"I'm sorry."

She murmured after a few more bites where taken in silence.

Max bit back an almost automatic response

'Its ok' Wont cut it, its almost an insult.

"Alarees, you have no blame in this."

"But I should have seen this coming."

"No one could have seen any of this coming. We were used."

The fork clinked faintly against the plate as Max set it down and moved to hold her hand in his. He paused, not wanting to rush sudden contact. Ree cowed in shame, taking the hesitation as some form of fear response. She nodded, a distressed tremble coloring her subvocals.

"You don't deserve this. You don't have to be here caring for me like some wounded varren."

"I'm not doing anything I don't want to Ree. I respect you, and I care about you. In a sense I owe you a bit of gratitude for what you did for me back on earth."

"What, like stalk you like some creepy Drell assassin and punch you a lot?" She deflected.

He gently squeezed her hand in his before softly rubbing her palm with a thumb. The effect was soothing as much as it was a little jarring seeing his clawless fingers moving with such dexterity.

"Well no, not that stuff. But that night you stopped by my place after I had gone hyper gliding… Well you did punch me in the face that time, but it was a wake up call. Id kept my grief so tightly bottled up I was bound to snap eventually. You made me confront those things and start to put them behind me. Now I wish to repay you in kind."

She squeezed his hand weakly and slumped in her chair towards him. Max pressed closer, wrapping an arm around her cowl and holding her in companionable silence for a while.

"So what your saying is you want to punch me."

He couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter as he rested his head against hers.

"I don't hit people in wheelchairs. Maybe when you get your strength back we could have a sparring rematch."

"Yes because that ended so well."

"It was a learning experience, for both of us."

"How long have you been here?" She said as she lifted her head to look at him. She could feel the heat emanating from him as if he were a torch. It made her realize just how thin and pointless her hospital gown was as she shivered involuntarily.

Max hesitated in answering as he stood to retrieve the spare blankets from a cupboard set beneath the in suite sink. He draped the thick blanket over her lap and tucked it in about her midriff as he spoke.

"As long as it was going to take."

She reached for him again, making it clear she wanted him close. He felt a sense of deep contentment and relief as he settled back into his seat. His fear of rejection and malice slowly fading away as he gently massaged the cool skin of her palm.

For Ree she felt her disbelief being supplanted by longing, a niggling ember of panic making her feel as though this was some sort of hallucination. No one in their right mind would stick beside the person who nearly got them killed because of their willful ignorance. So she clung to him as much as she was able.

She felt her thoughts begin to spiral out of control and held him even tighter.

 _Oh Spirits what if I'm already doing it again? What If I'm being blind to my surroundings all over again. What if he's just luring me into a false sense of security._

"But why?" She whispered as they leaned against one another, side by side.

"Well figure that out together. You should probably rest. The doctor tells me we shouldn't over do the stimulation this early on." He replied softly.

"Please don't leave."

"I'll be right here in the corner."

She gave a tired sigh and nodded. She felt like nothing in his arms as he scooped her out of the wheelchair and laid her gently on her hospital bed. He brushed her cheek plate softly and pulled the sheets up to her chin as she curled up on her side. She reached for him, holding on to his had for as long as she could stay conscious before the murky depths of sleep swallowed her whole.


	14. Chapter 14 The Worst Drug

_"SHE'S WITH ONE OF THOSE FUCKING THINGS. Jorvan mentioned it in passing. I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from screaming. Wrong. She's so Wrong. Why does she ignore me?! Doesn't she know our love is eternal?! I will fix her. I will show her what an abomination humans are. How they took everything from us._

 _I hope he comes along. She will know our pain. I will make her see._

 _The pain is so much. The meds do nothing. I stopped taking them some time ago. I saw a weak one in the Mech bay. He hurts himself. It's pathetic. The only true pain is inflicted by others._

 **Trafalgar Inpatient psychiatry Ward 4 July 2186**

"You really should take it easy. Your muscles have atrophied from the sedentary nature of your illness." The doctor said archly as he watched Max offer Ree his arm.

"To be honest Doctor, I've grown rather tired of sitting." Ree countered with a determined grunt as she used Max to lever herself out of her chair.

They were in the clinic's courtyard, the bright morning sun stabbed through the surrounding trees with beams of intense light. The trees branches danced and wavered as the wind began to pick up, as if in greeting. Max's exo-frame stood waiting for them by the clinics front entrance. Its braces hinged open like a steely maw of hydraulics and straps. Max had adjusted the restraints as best he could to accommodate Rees anatomy but he was still leery of having her moving about so soon.

He wanted to side with the doctor, but he knew she wanted to do this for herself. So he gently guided her to the frame, keeping pace with her wobbly steps as she leaned on him for support.

"That contraption isn't even medically rated, in fact I've never seen anything like that before." The Doctor continued.

"Because its military. Don't worry Doc, ill be close by." Max Assured as he hoisted her into the frame by her upper thighs.

Ree watched with interest as he began strapping her in, enclosing her within the machine as if it where some sort of iron maiden. She winced when he began to close the shackles around her ankles, the angles not meant for turian digitigrade feet.

"Oh sorry. Tell me if this is more tolerable." Max said as he stood and noticed her pained expression.

He made a few adjustments, removing a few straps around her double ankles and instead secured her feet better.

"Yes, that feels better, but I don't feel really that secure now."

The human scratched his head as he mulled the problem over.

"I'm sorry, I just don't have the tools with me to fix it right now. It should still work though, just no jumping or running." He said and took a step back.

She did look like she was about to fall out of the thing. The frame was built for Max and his armor, making her appear almost childlike in size compared to the frame. On top of that her shorter arms could barely reach the control nubs built into the palm grips.

"Hmmm. Semi Autonomous mode, follow all physical pressure inputs within limited range of motion. Begin learning range of motion now." He said to the frame and motioned Ree to move about.

She took a shaky step forward, the frame hesitating until it felt her legs pull. The delay made her feel as though she where about to trip so she put her arms out to brace for a fall. To Max it looked like she was doing a Frankenstein's Monster impression and he couldn't help but smile.

"Good, just move to where you feel comfortable a few times and it will store the information." He encouraged as she took another step, determination burning in her eyes. And her arms. And her legs. And her everything. Everything burned. It felt as though she had conducted an ultra marathon in the span of a few minutes as her weakened muscles fought to respond to her commands. Soon she was panting, a cool trickle of sweat running down her neck and into her cowl.

"Are you ok?" Max prompted as he took a step closer and offered a steadying hand.

"Yea. Spirits I feel like I'm twenty meters tall in this thing." She grunted and steadied herself into a standing position.

"I mean I suppose it's a handy way to smash your head on every doorway. I would know, it happens all the time."

The Doctor looked on with a façade of professional detachment but privately wondered how fun it would be to run around in such a device. "30 Minutes, and no more. I don't want your kidneys failing from all the lactic acid build up in your muscles." He said tersely as he stared pointedly at Max.

"Oh, just enough time for a 4 mile run." He murmured to Ree as the Doc turned on heel and left the two.

"Hah. I think I would quite literally die."

"I mean I could just set the frame on Full Autonomous and have it follow me." He persisted with a grin.

"No, Max. Not going to happen. Come, It's fairly nice out and I want to get some fresh air."

Her gait grew more and more fluid as they progressed until she got to a point where she settled into a slow loping rhythm due to her increased stride. Max stayed close beside her and had to get used to looking almost up at her as her tiny frame maneuvered the Exo with growing confidence. The burning subsided as the machine became more proactive and began anticipating her movements, easing the amount of effort she had to put into walking.

They followed a winding trail lined with mulch that threaded its way through the copse of trees. It melted away to reveal a grassy knoll with a few crude duracrete park benches arrange in a semi circle. Max knew from his time spent at the clinic that this was where some of the outpatient group sessions occurred. They crested the knoll and absorbed the vista it provided of Trafalgar city below. The early morning light cast the impossibly tall and slender skyscrapers in chrome. The flow of aircar traffic was minimal, threading broken lines of headlights between the buildings. This was set against the luscious green backdrop mountain range. The juxtiposition was jarring in how they dwarfed the tallest building.

He had come from those mountains. The long trek had been grinding and hazardous, He didnt give it a second thought as he took his seat beside Ree. They sat in silence for a while, taking in the scenery.

"Could you help me get my arms out of this thing?" She prompted as she tried to undo a latch herself. Max obeyed, a faint smile ghosting his face as he freed her upper torso from the frame. Her hand sought his and they pressed close to one another. A content sigh came from Ree as Max kneaded her hand in his. She looked over at him, taking in his features in profile before curiosity got the better of her and she reached out to run her hands through his beard. The bristly hair felt odd against her palm, he covered her hand in his and guided her hand over his cheek.

She extended a finger and traced the scar she had given him down his neck, pausing at the brown wrinkle of scar tissues banding his throat. He sensed her trepidation and turned, kissing her palm softly and pressing into her touch.

"I don't even know what happened after I blanked out." She said after he had pulled her hand back to his lap.

"There was an explosion. Her prosthetics malfunctioned." He said a bit too sharply. He regretted it instantly.

She wanted to press on but his tone gave her pause. It was understandable how raw the memory was for him, so she stopped, instead squeezing his hand.

"I'm sorry."

"Its ok. I'm still kinda there, ya know? Still trying to make sense of it all."

She nodded weakly, her heart beat in pained strokes as she saw the pain in his expression. She felt suddenly trapped in the frame and began unlatching the lower half. Max helped then eased her on to the bench beside him. Her hospital gown had been replaced by a simple set of gray sweatpants and long sleeved shirt. She tugged at the loose fitting shirt and pressed her head into his chest. Curling her small hands into his shirt as she leaned against him. Max cupped her chin as stroked her jaw line with a thumb as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her close. She nuzzled into his hand, craving closeness as she gave a small purr of contentment.

"I have faith in us." The words came unbidden, but Ree felt herself nodding in agreement.

"Ree." The vulnerable tone in his voice made her look up, concern clouding her delicate features.

Max stared into her eyes, holding on to her as he traced her fading colony markings from her small nose slits across her cheek and down her ear plate. He felt lost in her eyes, a sea of glinting blue and purple that threatened to swallow him. She reached up and touched his face in kind, inahling his scent in deeply and edging closer to his mouth. His eyes flitted to her lips, her mouthparts slightly ajar as she breathed languidly.

"I never want anything or anyone to come between us. Ever." He whispered as his hands traced her crest plates.

"Max. I can never forgive myself."

"You don't have to. I'm here. And I always will be so long as you'll have me. For you and only you."

He wiped her tears away, kissing the rest away as he held her closer. Her legs dangled limply over the side of the bench as she lay across his lap. She keened in a low tone that was both joyous and mournful as she shivered with energy.

"Max.. I think I love you, and it scares me. I don't want to hurt you or be hurt again." She breathed, her lips grazing his.

"I love you. And I'll do whatever it takes to help us mend."

She closed the distance, eagerly tasting him as she held on to his face with both hands. He pressed back into her, arms wrapping around her narrow waist and pulling her closer.

When they pulled apart after what felt like an eternity they both searched each others expressions before smiling and embracing once again. He slid his legs on to the bench, lifting Ree so that she could lay on top of him as he reclined, using the Exo as a headrest.

They spent most of the morning holding each other and occasionally kissing each other as if it where the first time.

 **Dhal's Folly 10 July 2186, Digeris**

"No Dalatrass, I have not managed a scan of him yet. I have, however, located him. He's with the female turian Cabalite in Trafalgar. I have received word that her condition has improved and that she will be ready to be discharged within a week."

Sighra clasped his hands neatly behind his back, mentally bracing for a reprimand.

"Very well Operative Bau. Please exercise caution, we've had a few more cases come to light and our grasp of the situation is becoming more solid. I would recommend having an isolation cell on standby, just in case."

"Would that really be necessary? He's hardly exhibited any violent tendencies save for acts of self defense."

The Salarian counselors ghostly holoform flickered briefly, giving the impression that his concerns had somehow caused the interference.

"Yes Operative, this is a requirement. We've scrubbed his personnel file and can find no active ties to Cerberus, however there is still cause for concern given some of his relationships."

His eyes narrowed at the tidbit of information. The news of his missing father had not changed, and given the partial evidence left behind at the scene of the two slain C-Sec officers it was easy to see the correlation. It had been Max's father who had been detained by the Counsel. Presumably by a Specter given the tight lipped nature of Counsel. It wouldn't look good on them to be seen holding Alliance members captive without notifying them. There had to be a fairly good reason.

"Very well Dalatrass, I will make the necessary preparations."

She nodded and cut the call.

Bau stood in silence for a while, his mind working through the situation from multiple angles. The fact that she had not been upset by his lack of contact with Max signaled some other development. Either that, or there had been enough information collected to deescalate the urgency of his assigned mission.

He left the QEC chamber set in the basement of the HQ building and checked his Omni as he walked. According to his tracker Max was still in Trafalgar, in close proximity to Alarees. They where somewhere in the commercial district. The fact that Max had his Omni still on meant he wasn't so concerned about being found.

So he took a chance and gave him a call.

"Shhh!" Max urged as his frame rocked steadily in the changing room.

Ree stifled a whine with both hands as she looked down at him. "Oh spirits Max I don't know if I can take anymore."

He stopped, a bead of sweat running down his temple as he looked up at Ree. She sat on the edge of the changing rooms bench seat, Max kneeling between her legs.

"We can stop if you'd like."

She shook her head slowly.

"No I need this. Its been too long."

Max's lips pursed with determination.

"Ill try to make it fast."

He turned back to his work. The file poised in his hand as he surveyed what was left to shave off her overgrown toe claw. He placed the to be purchased shoes beside her foot for comparison before resuming. The feeling of having her talons filed never bode well for her, it was akin to having nails dragged across a chalk board -only the board was her body and the nail was the file. But they had already made their selection and had entered the changing room only to realize she needed further grooming.

She had taken to her unruly crest plates herself back at the clinic with a tool that gave Max pause. They looked like short handled pruning sheers and toenail clippers had a baby. They had made the most disturbing crunch snap noise when she had taken to snipping the long curling plates protruding from her crown. He recalled watching as the solid chunks of bony material clattered into her cowl, which she deftly fished out with practiced ease and tossed into a waste bin.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"Only if I quick myself. There's a blood vessel that grows along with the plates if you let them get too long. Most females don't want to deal with constant trimming and have the vessels cauterized so they don't grow crest plates. For males it's a bit harder since theirs grow from birth and are thicker, Its also kinda a sex appeal thing."

"So males don't view female crests as sexy?" Max had asked fascinated.

"Some do, some don't, most don't care. Its about the fringe plate and hips for most though." She had replied as she tapped the plate above her brow. "Oh and some have a weird fetish about females with more than two calf spurs." She added with a shrug

Presently Max was embattled with a squirming Ree as he finished filing her talon.

"Ok, try them on now." He said as he stood and wiped his brow.

She wormed her foot into the shiny black leather boot and tugged at its tongue to get it to settle.

"A little snug, but better." She said with palpable relief in her subvocals.

Max offered his hand and helped her stand. She turned to the floor to ceiling mirror and looked herself over. Max couldn't help but grin as she tugged at the sleeveless dark red vest she now wore over a simple white undershirt and black leggings.

"I think the red stitching around the spur holes is a nice touch. Hell if you tossed some red laces for those shoes I'd say you were going for a look." He grinned as she took a few tentative steps around the changing room.

"Well all of my belongings are back at Dhals Folly, so I have to wear something." She replied distractedly as she bent over to stuff her old clothes into a small knapsack.

Also the memory tied to those clothes are a bit overwhelming for me at the moment. She thought as she lingered over her deep blue foot wraps. She could still see bits of dirt and grass embedded in the cloth material from that day.

Max opened his mouth to say something but paused as his Omni chirped. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he decided if he should take the call. When he read it was from Bau he pressed answer and sat down on the bench.

"Hey, long time no chat." He started and mouthed "Bau" to Ree when she stopped packing to look at him.

"I cant read human lips." She pointed to her ear plate. "Translator"

"Yea, im doing ok." He replied to Bau as he slid his Omni pad out of his pocket and brought up a picture of a salarian.

Ree caught on and gave dip of the chin. She felt conflicted about Bau, but felt he had tried all he could to alter the course of events after what Max had told her about the trial.

She moved to mouth something back at Max but thought better of it and sent a message to his Omni.

I'm going to go pay. Ill be out front.

"No really I'm doing fine. Some odd twinges here and there, but I'm ok." He replied to Bau as he shook his head at Ree and scooped up the shopping bags.

Like weird heat vision abilities and a an ability to strangle myself with time. Ya know, perfectly normal side effects of having a bunch of alien shit shoved inside you. He thought as he followed Ree out to the sales kiosk.

"Well I don't know. Id have to check and see if she's available for dinner." He replied as Ree paused to look up at Max. He mimed eating and pointed at her, himself, then the picture of the salarian on his Omni. She shook her head vehemently.

"Yea, well actually I don't think now is a good time." He added as he scratched his head and looked at his shoes. "I didn't know you were still on Digeris, I thought you packed up and left months ago." He said as he tried to change topics. He watched as Ree waved her Omni at the till and the female turian clerk behind the counter nodded, and began chatting Ree up good naturedly, as most retail puppets are trained to do. He could tell by the way she was leaning against the counter she was losing the will for small talk.

"Hey, so I gotta go. But yea, lets try again some time soon. Thank you once again for helping out." He said and cut the call.

He stood beside Ree, sliding an arm around her waist in as much an effort to rescue her from the overly energetic clerk as to keep her from toppling over.

There was an audible "Oh" from the clerk as her demeanor shifted upon seeing the human. Ree grinned and slipped her arm around Max as well.

"Well its been good talking, farewell and good luck with the academy." Ree said cheerfully as she lead Max away.

Max winced as the automatic door sensor sent a flash of energy out, then hummed and sent another longer pulse over the both of them before sliding open smoothly. The sensitivity to scanners and sensors hadn't gotten better as much as he was able to handle it by mentally bracing. When they had turned back on to the street Ree sighed gratefully.

"I think she took me leaning against the counter for support as permission to give her life's story." Ree grumbled as they walked slowly down the street.

"Was that a good "oh" or a bad "oh" she gave back there?" Max replied.

"That was genuine surprise. Aside from the bar district and commercial ports, Trafalgar is largely turian. She'd probably never seen a human before, much less an interspecies couple."

"Oh so we're a couple now." He said lightly and gave a small "Oof" as a spiked elbow jabbed him in the stomach.

"Strength is coming back, that's for sure." He added as he rubbed the sore spot.

Ree raised her Omni and hailed for an aircar to take them back to the ward. Technically Ree wasn't supposed to leave the facility unless with a guardian, but through some colorful language provided by Ree and a calm assurance by Max to the Administrator, they allowed him to serve that roll.

"Do you require anything?" Ree asked as she realized the trip had been all things she had wanted to grab.

"No, I'm ok, getting kinda hungry though. But we can wait until were back at the clinic and hit up the cafeteria." He replied as he rubbed his temple. Something about that door sensor had left a tingling sensation that had his mind buzzing. He caught Ree's concerned expression and gave a carefree smile.

"Really, I'm fine. Just some twinges."

Back at Dhals Folley Bau reviewed the limited data the door sensor provided before frowning and set about hacking another camera feed. A street corner security camera had the two within their field of view as they waited for their ride. Content that he could track them he turned back to the results and rubbed his chin.

"Fascinating."

An orderly and a doctor was waiting for the two of them when their air car touched down at the clinic.

"You're late." The ancient looking turian male doctor grumbled as the orderly pushed a wheel chair forward to scoop up Ree.

Max checked his Omni.

"By like 15 minutes." He protested.

"My word is my Bond." Ree and the Doctor echoed eerily.

Ree shook her head "Sorry, it was my fault. We got delayed at a store because I of me."

She shooed the wheelchair and orderly away, instead snaking an arm around Max's as they all made their way back into the clinic. The doctor fell in step beside Ree and bowed his head as if he were a monk on a sacred journey.

"I'm not Hierarchy anymore, but in my day you planned 15 minutes prior to your 15 minutes prior so if things like this happen you're never late. -Anyway, I'm here because you're due another physical assessment. Mr. Barrett if you'll be so kind as to wait outside. We don't have the funds to replace another MRI." He spoke in a slow methodical cadence, almost fatherly in its tone.

Ree looked up at Max.

"Another one?"

"Long story."

When they had finished Ree emerged from the exam room with her head held high. Max was already beaming.

"Doc says my levels are good, its just a matter of strength conditioning and a few boosters to get my metabolism back on track. -Which is done." She said as she showed him a small bandage in the crook of her arm.

"That's the Physical bit, you still need to check in with Dr. T'Pero tomorrow for a psych eval." The elder turian called out cantankerously from the exam room.

"Food?" Max prompted.

"Food." Ree affirmed, ignoring the Doc.

The Cafeteria was mostly deserted when the two arrived, it being late evening. A few night staffers huddled in a corner and talked amongst themselves as the two entered and set about filling their trays. The conversation dimmed as the two were noticed but picked up again as the curiosity passed.

Max settled down with a tray of some sort of lettuce analog and a few vat grown meat cubes, lightly seared and seasoned. When ever he ate the vat grown stuff his mind screamed SPAM but it had the consistency of a medium rare cooked steak. -That tasted like SPAM. Ree on the other hand had decided to test capacity of her tray by heaping on a mound of dextro rice and apatarae meat, all slathered in a sauce that smelled sweet and a tad like over ripe mushrooms.

"So, this MRI thing." She lead with as she slid into the seat opposite Max.

Max managed to get a mouthful down before responding, a hand covering his mouth politely as he spoke. Ree smiled internally, recalling bearing witness to the odd motion before.

"Yea, so, things that emit energy, particularly scanners, don't like me. And I don't like them. Sometimes I have issues with powercells as well. My Omnipad will overheat on me if I'm not paying attention." He said and took another quick bite as Ree chewed thoughtfully.

"Is this all because of… you know" She said in a low tone.

"That night of the drugging" He affirmed with a scowl directed at his plate.

Ree recalled the incident with the security guards and the rifle overheating. She felt a twinge of disquiet and set her fork down.

"Max, do you recall when they woke you? Do you remember what happened?"

He set his utensils down as well and edged his plate away.

"Yes and no. I remember this feeling of falling, like something swallowed me up. I recall feeling your presence but not seeing you. I remember feeling the draw of power from above and then waking up omni-cuffed to the bed. What happened exactly?"

Ree finished a small nibble of her food before replying. She felt partially guilty for eating at all given the gravitas of the conversation, but she felt absolutely ravenous as her body craved proteins and nutrients to rebuild muscle and bone.

"You were there, then it felt like you weren't. I damn near killed you with a chair. Bau tried to sedate you but the IV's just popped out. It was scary Max."

"I wonder if I'm even me sometimes." He said as he rubbed his hands together under the table. "Like I feel like me, but I feel like I can see me. Like there's a part of me that's able to wander off and see me from the outside. It's the same part that makes some sensations really intense, like the electronics thing. But other times it feels like it's a record keeper."

He looked up at Ree, his eyes questioning.

"I remember things Ree. Like stuff in vivid detail. And it seems to be going farther and farther back in my mind. Every time I wake up I feel as though another chapter of my life has been queued for review behind my eyelids."

"Maybe we should both go see Dr.T'Pero tomorrow." Ree said cautiously as she reached across the table for his hand.

He ceased rubbing his knuckles anxiously and took up her embrace.

"I've talked to her already. Not about any of this, but about us. I get the sense this would be more of a Dr. Bau thing. I'm worried Ree, am I going to continue to change?"

She felt helpless in that moment. Both sat in silence, their food forgotten. It was Ree who finally broke the silence.

"Then we should definitely go see him."

Max nodded in agreement.

"Yes. But I'm still worried at what they might find or do."

"Well go together Max. You were by my side, and I'll be by yours."

"You sure we cant sabotage your psych eval tomorrow and just stay here?" He said halfheartedly.

"And what would I tell them to sabotage my eval Max." She goaded with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh I dunno, maybe that you're in a relationship with a human. And if that's not bad enough it's a human full of weird alien bullshit in his body." He shrugged as he pulled his plate back towards himself.

"I don't know Max, I wouldn't call it "bowl sheet" when you've been in my body."

She giggled at the open mouthed stare Max gave. "Ree!" He hissed

Her giggles turned into muffled snorts of laughter as Max flushed a deep red and he stared into his food.

They settled back into their meal, talking idly intermittently before depositing their trays in the scullery and making their way back to her ward room. Alarees stripped down and carefully folded her clothes before depositing them on a small cart that had been used to leave meds for her earlier. When she noticed Max unrolling his sleeping mat and laying it in a corner she cleared her throat and placed her clawed hands on her hips.

"What? There's hardly any room in here." Max replied as he felt himself flush.

Her lithe frame seemed to be swallowed by the darkness in the room. Her eyes glittered glittered from the depths of shadow as she extended a hand and walked towards him, leading him back to the bed and nudging him towards it. He settled under the cool crisp white sheets and lay on his side, trying to make as much room for her as possible. She oozed into the bed after him and tucked in close, her frame pressing into him as she curled up and yawned. He slid and arm under the pillow while the other wrapped around her waist.

She gave a low throaty purr of contention and writhed against him. She eagerly soaked up his warmth as her cool plating pressed against him. He smiled as his lids became heavy, absently rubbing the soft skin of her un-plated stomach as he began to nod off.

"I love you." He whispered. He felt a rush just saying that, the conviction was absolute

"I love you more." She sighed and pressed harder against him. It still didn't feel close enough. She felt out Max and realized he was still wearing his undergarments. She battled internally if she should say anything but settled on a more subtle approach.

Her hips slowly rocked, her supple rear grinding against his sex.

"We're definitely not gonna be able to do that in this tiny thing." He mumbled through a sleepy smile.

"No, not how we've done in the past no. Only if you want to, though. Its something bonded mates do." she breathed back.

"Ree, are you sure you want to move this fast?" He said in a low voice.

She hesitated before answering, his questioning tone making her own concerns feel tangible. She had her own misgivings, a feeling that she was falling into the same trap as Jaa. But it felt different with Max, it felt like it had been with Kantose. If anything his caution had affirmed her decision.

"Yes. Unless you don't feel the same." She whispered as she turned her head to eye him.

He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a tad bit uneasy, but he trusted her. So he slipped out of bed, gasping at how chilly it was outside of the warmth of their body heat and sheets, and slipped his boxers off before sliding in back behind her. She gave a small shiver as he dragged the warmth away but writhed under the sheets with him to build the heat back up.

For a while nothing happened. Max wondered if he was supposed to do something but then she sighed and began slowly grinding against him. He felt himself begin to stir and hugged her a little tighter. She shifted and brought his swelling sex between her thighs. He could feel the heat of her slit as she slowly emerged, her petals like hot little tendrils of velvet seeking him out.

It all happened over the course of the night, with both parties partially nodding off at times as things slowly progressed. He recalled waking briefly, vaguely aware of being inside of her as she slowly drew him in deeper with each breath. Her mandibles flexed languidly, every exhale was colored by a faint whisper of a moan in her subvocals as her hips continued to roll slowly. Another period of dreamless sleep, the sensation of velvet pressing in all around him as he felt an up-welling of pressure at the base of his soul.

His presence was like a beacon of intense heat as she rolled though soul rending ecstasy. She could feel his heartbeat within her as she dove deeper and deeper, taking him to the hilt. She nodded off again pressing against her lover as she finally felt close enough. There where times where he would swell and diminish, like the ebb and flow of the tide. She pulled on him, ever so slowly, her petals gently messaging and savoring his presence before the tide would come in and she was breathing his scent deeply as his pulse intensified.

Then the moment came when both where sleepily aware of each other. The pre dawn glow from the window bathed the room in a deep purple. Max was trembling against Ree, his sex feeling as though it was made of pinpricks and static as a tidal wave frothed madly within him, seeking a exit. His breath was shallow as he could feel his entire existence tense. Ree's voice hitched in her throat as she felt him swell and press deeper into her than she though possible. Her stomach tensed as she began to feel feverish with energy. Her trigger was a breath away as he pressed against her, his arms a steel cage as he pulled on her. She angled her hips willing him to go deeper as she began to pant. She tensed as he pulled on her hips to an almost painful degree and drove even further into her, touching off a spark that made her seize around him.

It was too much to bear, the damn broke and he released his soul with a rasping moan as he felt himself course inside of her with the beat of his heart. She whined in a low rumbling tone as she felt the hot sear of his seed fill her, making her sex spasm again and sending her over the edge as her entire body curled up. He chased after her, their entwined forms becoming a ball of infinite sensation as they became one being.

They panted and twitched for what felt like eternity before they were desensitized enough to slowly, ever so slowly separate. Ree felt a chill in the base of her cowl as it felt like a part of her was being taken away from her. Max couldn't help but shiver despite being drenched in sweat as his entire body seemed to ache from the release.

She rolled on her back, feeling the chill of his seed race down her sex. She was silent as she regarded him, her eyes wide and searching, her mouth partially open. He ran a hand down her fringe and crest and kissed her softly on the mouth.

"Max, I love you."

He smiled and traced her markings with a thumb.

"I love you too."

"You don't understand. I like, really love you."

His expression sobered as he felt the depth of her words. He held her tight, whispering into her ear plate.

"I love you more than life itself."

They eventually hauled out of bed after holding each other and washed up. The tiny in suite shower made it a close and intimate affair, which neither minded as they took turns scrubbing each other down. Max grinned as Ree's head lulled about sleepily while he scrubbed a spot on her back where her cowl faded into a series of overlapping plates.

"What's wrong, didn't get much sleep?" He teased. "Remember, that was your idea, what ever that was." He shook his head in disbelief. He could have swore he felt his life shorten by a few years as they reached their bone crushing climax the following morning.

"Ah, no, I feel rested, its just that spot right there is undoing all of that, but I cant complain." She bubbled through the stream of water as her crest rested against the shower wall.

When they switched rolls Ree carefully tipped the water out of her cowl, but not before Max tried to use the water as a sink, which earned him a snap of her jaw with its full arsenal of fang like teeth.

"No! Stoppit! Not for washing!" She said in a semi annoyed tone as she batted his hands away.

"C'mon, your wasting water!" Max begged with a shit eating grin on his face.

"No!" She glared briefly before lightly digging her talons into his flanks.

He cowed from her touch, a primal panic making him flinch at the dig. She ceased and wielded a new weapon; a soap laden loofa which she applied liberally to his frame. She couldn't help but inspect his body up close as the loofa glided over his muscles. She smiled with contentment when they met each others gaze as she worked her way up to his chest and neck.

When they finished and dried off they ate a quick breakfast before walking hand in hand to Dr. T'Peros office.


End file.
